Re Rejuvenated
by yukuro
Summary: One night, Sasuke opens the door to find an interesting little surprise on his doorstep. The next thing he knows, he's found himself a new roommate. Unfortunately, no one did explain Kakashi's special new circumstance. [KakashixSasuke]
1. Stage One

**Disclaimer: **I own not a thing.

**Pairing:** Kakashi x Sasuke

**Re-Rejuvenated**

_By: yukuro_

**Stage One:** Pre-teen

The infernal knocking on the front door still had not ceased.

Eighteen-year-old jounin Uchiha Sasuke had just returned from a tiresome mission and had been quite looking forward to a quiet, peaceful evening alone at home. Apparently, whoever was outside knocking had other ideas. He ignored it the first few times, but once the knocking began to sound in elaborate rhythmic patterns, Sasuke's patience began to grow thin. Slamming his chopsticks back down on the table, he stomped towards the front door. So much for his quiet evening.

"What do you want?" he snapped irritably, the second he pulled open the door with vigor. A frown settled on his face when cold air and empty space greeted his face. Just as he prepared to slam the door shut again, he felt a tug on his shirt.

"Yo, Sasuke!"

Sasuke blinked once. Then twice. A frown settled on his face.

In this amount of time, he had already checked that it was not genjutsu deceiving him, but his brain still could not process the information that his eyes were feeding him. This had to be a joke.

"Look, kid," he began in an exasperated sigh, slightly scowling as he did so, "I don't know who you are and how you know where I live, but please go home to your parents, and stop impersonating Kakashi. It's unflattering."

"You're cold as usual, Sasuke," the Kakashi-look-alike child said with cheer resonating in his voice. It was the kind of familiar cheerfulness that made Sasuke cringe in recognition. "But really, is that any way to treat your former teacher?"

"You're not Kakashi," Sasuke stated flatly. "You're a _kid_. You must be at least five times younger than him."

"Just because I have gray hair, doesn't mean I'm old," the child sulked. "I'm only thirty-two."

It took Sasuke a second to realize that he was actually having this conversation. Shaking his head, he firmly set a determined frown back on his face before stepping back into his house and pressing the door back towards the frame. "Good ni—"

"Were you eating dinner?"

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. The child was no longer outside his door, but was now perched at the edge of his dining table, observing Sasuke's dinner. Fury invoked, Sasuke slammed the door and marched back to the table. "_Who_ the hell are you? And _what_ do you think you're doing in my house?"

"I told you," the child repeated slowly, as if speaking to someone younger than himself, "I'm Hatake Kakashi."

Sasuke was Not Amused. He was tired from his mission and now he was hallucinating. It had to be that or some random child thought it would be a fun prank to dress up this way and annoy the hell out of him. Pressing his lips into a thin, flat line, Sasuke said stiffly, "Prove it."

"Well," the child began musingly, taking a seat at the table, "when you were twelve, you co-conspired with Naruto and Sakura in putting a chalkboard eraser in the doorframe to fall on my head."

Anyone could have heard about that, Sasuke reassured himself, lips tilting downward. As realization hit him, he muttered under his breath, "That was Naruto by himself."

"When you were fifteen," the child continued carelessly, examining his nails, "I had to give you the sex talk because you decided you _had_ to go check on the noises of two people coming from the bushes in the forest while we were training even though I specifically told you not to."

Sasuke's jaw nearly dropped openly as his cheeks flamed in embarrassment. He would _kill_ Kakashi for blabbing to some kid about that. No one was supposed to know about that. Kakashi swore he wouldn't tell. Sasuke's brow twitched again.

At this point, the child was beginning to become quite amused. Cheerfully, he continued, "At sixteen you accidentally took my copy of _Icha Icha Paradise_ instead of your record book. After reading just one page, you got so embarrassed that you took your kunai and—"

"T-That's enough!" Sasuke sputtered as he jumped to his feet in a rage, face thoroughly flushed. He glowered at the child's only visible eye, cheeks still blazing. "I don't know how you know that stuff, but…!"

"Still won't believe me?" the child sighed in disappointment. Reaching over, he plucked a mushroom off Sasuke's dish and popped it into his mouth after pulling his mask down a bit. Grinning, or as much as Sasuke could tell with that mask back in place, the child fished a folded sheet of paper out of his pocket and offered it to Sasuke. "It's a note from Godaime."

Still dubious, Sasuke snatched the paper with a frown while the child continued to help himself to Sasuke's dinner. With clear irritation on his face, Sasuke scanned the note rapidly.

It was ridiculous. Completely and utterly ridiculous.

"How did this happen?" he demanded, sitting back down again at the table. He fixed his gaze carefully on the child—no, _Kakashi_, or so he and the note claimed. "This is impossible! And why didn't you show me the note first, instead of spilling all of my embarrassing moments?"

Kakashi shrugged in amusement. He beamed up at his former student, who was now at least six years older than him bodily wise. "It was fun to remember your cute embarrassed face at those times."

"Hurry up and explain yourself!" Sasuke demanded, feeling his cheeks warm up again.

It had all started three days ago, according to child-Kakashi. He had just returned from a mission with a light graze on his arm. Apparently, the scratch was not a light graze after all.

"It was infected with poison," Tsunade had declared frankly, folding her arms. "Luckily, wasn't lethal and we managed to treat it. Why didn't you get it taken care of sooner?"

"My teammates had it worse than me," the then adult-Kakashi had explained sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. "Plus I had to turn in the report."

"Reports can wait when you're injured," Tsunade snapped, feeling a headache coming on. She felt as if she were speaking to a novice genin, not Kakashi, one of the best of her best. Sighing, she continued with the more important news. "There's something you should know about the poison though. Shizune, tell him."

"It's a fairly new poison developed by the Rock Country," Shizune explained, taking over as Tsunade retired to a chair to rub her temples. "It was made to cause cell decay in the body. It's known to spread over time, so it's actually quite a surprise you've been fine for so long."

"Anyway," she continued, "Tsunade-sama was able to create an antidote, but it hasn't been perfected yet. In other words, while the antidote is working, you'll be experiencing side effects."

"Exactly what kind of side effects?" Kakashi asked intently.

Shizune cringed slightly. "Well," she said rather timidly, "the antidote needs to rejuvenate your cells, so experimentally, your body will get younger. It'll recover over time, but for a little while, you'll revert to a child form with rapid re-growth until you return to your actual body age."

Kakashi remained silent for a moment before asking, "How long will it take?"

"A few weeks," Tsunade replied in exasperation from her desk, shuffling a stack of papers together. "In the meantime, find someone to stay with to look after you. I would recommend Sakura since she can use medical ninjutsu, but she'll be out on a mission for a while. So find someone yourself."

"So you decided to choose me?" Sasuke asked rather skeptically with a sigh. He closed his eyes in exasperation for a moment when Kakashi nodded cheerfully. Opening his eyes again, he demanded, "_Why_?"

"Gai first volunteered to take me in," Kakashi explained rather dully. "But he said he was also planning on exploiting me."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. He had no idea what was meant by "exploiting," and he frankly did not want to find out. He supposed he had to cut Kakashi slack there. Although, that did not stop him from commenting with a smirk, "I don't know, Kakashi. He really seems to like you."

Kakashi shot him a look.

Shrugging, Sasuke then suggested, "Naruto?"

"Have you _been_ to his house?"

All right, admittedly, he shouldn't have brought that one up either. Sasuke's brow twitched yet again. Yes, how he hated to admit it, but there really was no other way. Kakashi had looked after him since he was an ignorant child. He supposed he owed the man—err, child some sort of debt. Giving up, he grumbled in resignation, "Fine. You can stay. Just don't trash my house when I'm out on missions."

"Never," Kakashi promised with little enthusiasm, making Sasuke frown deeper in obvious distrust.

Examining the boy before him, Sasuke finally managed to ask out of curiosity, "How old are you supposed to be right now anyway?"

Stretching his arms out, Kakashi examined them for a moment before shrugging. Upon observing this scene, Sasuke twitched yet again. _Why_, oh, _why_ did Kakashi look so damn adorable like that? It was wrong on so many levels. First of all, Sasuke was supposed to despise kids. Second of all, he was supposed to despise Kakashi. There was clearly something wrong with his current mental processing. Across the table, Kakashi looked thoughtful for a moment before answering, "Almost ten or so. At least, it feels that way."

"You've got to be kidding me," Sasuke groaned in irritation. This was bad. It was almost as if he were teaching a class of genin—a job that he had readily turned down and decided maybe for when he was older and more mentally prepared to deal with the incompetence. But then again, he _did_ work with Naruto for six years already. "It's like babysitting."

"I'll grow fast," Kakashi replied carelessly, waving his hand as if it were a small matter not to be concerned with. "At least, that's what they told me."

Exasperated, Sasuke gave in with a groan and sat back down at the table. He glanced at the table and frowned visibly. Most of his dinner had conveniently disappeared. He glared pointedly at Kakashi.

"A child has to eat," Kakashi said innocently in a sickeningly sweet tone.

Sasuke grumbled and collected his dishes before depositing them in the sink. So much for dinner. Deciding that he would come back for the dishes later, he made his way towards the bathroom to prepare himself a shower. He could feel Kakashi's curious gaze following him as he went, but he completely ignored it. Just because he was staying here, did not necessarily mean Sasuke had to take care of him.

Just before Sasuke pulled the bathroom door shut behind him, Kakashi called out cheerfully from the kitchen, "Have a nice shower!"

The dark haired teen promptly pulled the door shut in a rather stiff motion. Once he had the water running, he closed his eyes and let his stress-tensed body relax as the room steadily filled with gentle steam. He cracked his eyes open slightly to gaze lazily at his hazy reflection in the mirror as it continued to fog up with steam before progressively peeling his clothes from his body and slipping into the steaming shower.

As water beat gently over the top of his head, Sasuke managed to let his worries slip away for a short while. He continued to drown his worries for a while before finally reaching over to turn the water off. His skin was beginning to wrinkle.

Stepping out of the shower, Sasuke grabbed a towel from the rack and wrapped it around his waist before taking another to dry his hair. Once he was properly dried, he pulled some more comfortable home-wear clothes and retrieved his towels from the ground. Just as he was about to make his way back to his bedroom, he remembered that Kakashi was still outside. He frowned slightly and took a step back. Slowly, he glanced over his shoulder at the bathtub. Even though he had decided he would not bother to look out for his shrunken teacher, his conscience nagged at him to do so. Muttering under his breath, he marched back to the bathtub and filled it with warm water and placed more clean towels on the rack.

When Sasuke stepped out of the bathroom, it was blissfully but oddly silent. He slowly made his way back to the kitchen, where, much to his surprise, the dishes as well as the table were cleaned. Kakashi still sat at the table, feet propped up on another chair while pleasantly reading whatever new copy of _Icha Icha Paradise_ he had. Again, something nagged at Sasuke's conscience. Frown settling on his face again, he was reminded of why he despised children.

Leaning over Kakashi from behind, Sasuke easily fished the book out of the child's hands. When Kakashi turned to pout, however it was possible with the majority of his face covered, Sasuke snapped the book shut and folded his arms. Pointedly, he stated, "I don't think _children_ should be reading this kind of book. Go take a bath. I've filled the tub for you. You can wear whatever old clothes I have from when I was younger."

Kakashi was smirking at him, Sasuke could feel it. He almost cringed at the smug aura the child was radiating, but his pride promptly gave his cowardice the finger and made him stand rigid. He did blink in surprise, however, when Kakashi stood up on the chair and pulled Sasuke down to his eye-level by tugging on the teen's shirt before pressing an innocent kiss on the side of Sasuke's face. Watching the dark haired teen's face flush, Kakashi commented rather cheerfully, "Are you sure you were always a younger brother, Sasuke-_niichan_?"

"Don't call me that, you perverted jounin," Sasuke scowled in embarrassment as Kakashi hopped off the chair and made his way towards the bathroom, cheerfully humming as he went. Bringing his hand up to his face, Sasuke gingerly fingered the tingling patch of skin where Kakashi had kissed. The cloth of the mask had been in the way, but still his cheek flamed as if actual lips had met it. Once the bathroom door clicked shut, Sasuke cursed Kakashi under his breath. He should have known he would come to regret his decision.

When Kakashi emerged from the bathroom about half an hour later, Sasuke was still up at the kitchen table, finishing up the details on his mission report. The dark haired teen looked up when he heard the soft sound of footsteps coming towards him. He frowned visibly at Kakashi's state.

The clothes Sasuke had lent him were quite clearly too large, as Kakashi made clear with the flapping of the loose sleeves. If Sasuke had not been so distracted, he may have been able to better appreciate the fact that Kakashi presently lacked a mask and headband to cover his face. His hair was still dripping drops of water, making Sasuke's frown deepen. But if Sasuke was or ever would be able to associate the word "cute" with Kakashi, now would have been the moment.

"Give me that towel," Sasuke mumbled with a mixture of embarrassment and irritation as he snatched the towel from the child's hands. Turning around in his chair, he draped the towel over Kakashi's head before rubbing vigorously in attempt to dry the hair beneath. It was suddenly at that moment that Sasuke realized something.

He only had one bedroom and only one bed.

Kakashi peeked up at him from beneath the flaps of the towel draped over his head. Amusement in his voice, he asked, "Something wrong?"

It was quite possibly the only time Sasuke ever regretted leaving his family's estate to live in a tiny apartment in the city. If he were still in the estate, at least he would not have to share a bedroom, and most likely a bed too, with Kakashi, even if he _was_ just a child presently. His left eye twitched slightly.

"Don't worry," Kakashi stated loudly, pulling the towel off his head to grin up at Sasuke's disturbed expression. "I won't molest you in your sleep. Although, it would be interesting given the state of the current situation."

"Bedtime!" Sasuke declared abruptly, almost jumping to his feet. Face blazing with a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment, he ushered Kakashi into his bedroom and sat the child on the bed. Once Kakashi was seated, Sasuke took a step back and ran a hand through his dark hair in frustration. Suddenly, Sakura's idea of keeping an extra futon in his house seemed like the greatest idea in the world—which made him the greatest idiot in the world for not listening to her before.

"Does it bother you that much to share a bed with me?" Kakashi asked in amusement, swinging his legs from the side of the bed. Sasuke stiffened visibly, making Kakashi raise an eyebrow. "Aha. So I hit the mark?"

"O-Of course not," Sasuke scowled, reluctantly edging towards the bed. The moment his gaze met the smug expression that adorned Kakashi's face, Sasuke felt his pride swell. He quickly strode over to the bed, and as Kakashi moved to the far end, he lay down and pulled the sheet up to his chin. Frowning and shutting his eyes defiantly, he stated with a sniff, "I'm not afraid of you."

If he had his eyes opened, Sasuke may have noticed Kakashi directing a sign of victory at the wall. Poor Sasuke. It always was hard for him to realize when he had been manipulated.

Sasuke stiffened when he felt the sheets shift and a body crawl close to his back. A bit too close. He could feel Kakashi's even breathing on the back of his neck, and much to his annoyance, his face heated up again. "K…Kakashi…!"

"Hmm?" Kakashi asked in an oblivious tone when Sasuke turned around to glare at him. Seeing this as an opportunity, Kakashi grinned and gestured towards his upward-turned lips. "Ne, Sasuke-niichan. Won't you give me a goodnight kiss?"

Completely and utterly shocked, Sasuke could only continue to glare while his jaw dropped open and closed again uselessly. Finally managing to get his jaw functioning again, Sasuke scowled, "I-Idiot! Go to sleep!"

Kakashi watched in childish disappointment as Sasuke rolled over to face the opposite direction again. Folding his arms, he declared, "Fine then. I'll just help myself."

This comment made Sasuke's ear perk. What the hell was Kakashi talking about? He turned his face slightly to glance back in curiosity—a terrible mistake on his part.

As Sasuke felt himself being thoroughly kissed by the child form of his teacher, he was sure this had to shoot directly up to the top of his embarrassing moments list. The most irritating part of it all was that Kakashi was annoyingly talented at this sort of thing. Again, more reasons to despise both children and Kakashi.

Finally pulling apart to allow Sasuke breathe, Kakashi smirked before sticking his tongue out at the bewildered teen. Flopping himself back down on the mattress to face the opposite direction and pulling the sheet up to his chin, Kakashi called over his shoulder in amusement, "Payback for taking my new _Icha Icha_ book away."

Sputtering, Sasuke glared murderously at the back of Kakashi's head. He could feel the strings of his self-restraint growing dangerously thin. Dear god. This was only the first day too. Frustrated, Sasuke rolled over to face the opposite direction again and angrily squeezed his eyes shut.

Oh yes, these next few weeks would be barrels of fun.

* * *

Naruto had to make a great struggle to force his way into Sasuke's apartment the next day. He had official documents from Tsunade! What the hell was Sasuke thinking, asking him to just slip the papers underneath the door? That kind of request simply made Naruto want to burst into the room even more. 

After nearly half an hour of bickering with a door between their faces, Naruto had finally managed to squeeze in with the crack he had managed to keep by wedging his foot between the door and the frame. The first thing he did once inside was demand _why_ Sasuke had refused to let him in.

"You don't have any new furniture, you didn't remodel, you're not naked," Naruto received murderous glares for that one, "and it's not like you're hiding a girl in your bedroom."

Apparently, Kakashi had chosen that very moment to wake up and call sleepily from Sasuke's bedroom, "Sasuke?"

Naruto was staring, and Sasuke did not like it. Unable to find proper words to defend himself, he simply glared back at his teammate. There was general silence. Then a wicked smirk curved on Naruto's lips. That meant the situation was about to get worse.

In a flash, Naruto had darted to Sasuke's bedroom door, yanking it open while exclaiming loudly, "Ne, Sasuke! What kind of girlfriend are you hid…ing…? Is that a _kid_? No way! Sasuke, you have a _son_?"

Sasuke suddenly felt a strong urge to beat himself over the head with a blunt object. Or, even better, beat Naruto over the head with a blunt object, then Kakashi, _and then_ himself. It would be like another Uchiha clan tragedy. Except with blunt objects, only one Uchiha, and two idiots.

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Kakashi looked up hazily with the blanks pooled around his legs. Seeing a splash of blond hair, he grinned lazily. "Ah, Naruto. Morning."

The blond teen blinked rapidly before staring down at the child with squinting eyes. "Strange," he muttered thoughtfully, "I don't remember ever meeting you. Although, you do kind of look like Kakashi-sensei. But Kakashi-sensei doesn't have any sisters I know of that Sasuke could have—"

A shuriken whizzed through the air towards the back of Naruto's head. Unfortunately for Sasuke, the blond dodged it and turned around to stick his tongue out at the dark haired teen.

"I don't have a son!" Sasuke exclaimed through gritted teeth, stomping over to the pair. Hitting Naruto upside the head and using his other hand to point at Kakashi's amused face, Sasuke demanded angrily, "What part of him looks anything like me, Usuratonkachi?"

"True. He's a lot cuter than you. Ah," Naruto said with understanding, rubbing the back of his head lightly. Teasingly, he grinned at his friend while nudging him playfully, "You've taken this kid to be your lover? I didn't know you were a pedophile, Sasuke!"

Only Naruto could have gotten away with his life after saying that to Sasuke, even as a joke.

Before Sasuke could pull out any more weapons in blind fury, Kakashi finally decided to intervene. He hopped out of bed the best he could with the overly long pajamas he wore and pulled down sharply on Sasuke's shirt until they were eyelevel. Cheerfully, he chastised while playfully patting the side of the teen's face, "Now, now, Sasuke. Be a good boy, and get along with your teammate, ne?"

"Shut up, Kakashi," Sasuke snapped, murderous gaze set on Naruto. "I'm going to _kill_ him."

Ignoring Sasuke, Naruto bent over to examine the child with wide eyes. "Eh? No way. You're Kakashi-sensei? How'd that happen?"

"Long story," Kakashi replied with an easygoing smile while still calmly repressing Sasuke with a firm grip on the teen's shirt. "I'm staying with Sasuke until I get better."

"So you're recuperating," Naruto stated musingly, bringing his fist into his palm as the information clicked. "Makes sense. I was wondering why you didn't wake up w hen I first got to the door if you were here."

Kakashi continued to grin as he calmly tripped Sasuke and climbed up to sit on the teen's stomach. Still directing his gaze at Naruto, he replied, "Children need more sleep to grow."

It was then when Naruto promptly burst out laughing. The sight of a miniature Kakashi sitting on top of an angrily sputtering Sasuke was a better stimulus for outrageous laughter than swallowing an ostrich feather.

While still in a state of out of control laughter, Naruto retreated towards the door, leaving a stack of papers from Tsunade on the table as he left. Just before he shut the door behind him, he turned to grin wickedly at Sasuke, who was still pinned to the ground, "Don't worry about a thing, Sasuke. I won't tell anyone your lover is a kid that still tops you."

As the door clicked shut and Naruto strolled down the stairs whistling, Sasuke exploded, "KAKASHI IS _NOT_ MY LOVER!"

This information simply went in one ear and out the other for Naruto. Oh, but Sasuke's neighbors had heard plenty.

Mortified, Sasuke brought a hand up to cover his darkened face. The world was officially over, and he could not get off of the ground. Once he removed his hand again to stare blankly at the ceiling, Sasuke felt a deep frown settle on his face. "Kakashi," he groaned in misery. "Hurry and grow up already."

In an attempt to comfort the dismayed teen, Kakashi leaned forward to ruffle Sasuke's dark hair. "There, there," he comforted with an amused grin. "At least I haven't gotten to the puberty stage yet."

And that was when Sasuke realized he had made the biggest mistake of his life.

Tsuzuku.

* * *

**A/N:** All right! So I'm sure we've all read all those Sasuke-becomes-Kakashi's-roommate-because-Kakashi-has-to-watch-over-him fics, so here's the exact opposite. 8D And as much as I love ItaSasu and NaruSasu (or SasuNaru), I'm putting out my epic KakaSasu fic. It's a change! But trust me, change is good. Anyway! This first chapter has been written for Sasuke's birthday, yay.** Happy Birthday, Sasuke!** (Emo-ninja-boy, you.) 

This fic still has a bit of ways to go, so please let me hear/read your support/reviews if you enjoyed this! 8D Thanks for reading and please look forward to the next installment!


	2. Stage Two

**Disclaimer:** Not own'd here. 8D

**Pairing:** Kakashi x Sasuke

**Re-Rejuvenated**

_By: yukuro_

**Stage Two: **Puberty

So far, Sasuke had been lucky.

Kakashi had been steadily growing over the last few days, and at this point, he had already reached about the age of thirteen or fourteen at most. The greatest relief for Sasuke was, however, that Kakashi did not seem to be showing signs of puberty yet. At least, not that Sasuke was aware of. If he had thought Kakashi was perverted when he was older, Sasuke definitely did not want to see him in the peak of his pubescent period. The problem was, it would definitely come, and no matter when it does, Sasuke would not be prepared.

"You've gotten taller again," Sasuke commented as he sat down at the table for dinner. As it turns out, Kakashi had proven himself useful by preparing dinner for the two of them. "Did you grow more while I was out today?"

"Probably," Kakashi said with a shrug as he sat across the table from the dark haired teen. His only visible eye slowly latched onto Sasuke's face across the table. "Looks like I'll be your age soon, Sasuke."

Sasuke shifted uncomfortably in his seat, keeping his gaze unwavering from his bowl of rice. Lately, he had begun to feel more and more…exposed underneath Kakashi's gaze. Ever since Sasuke had prohibited the reading of _Icha Icha Paradise_, Kakashi seemed to have more time to pay attention to him. Suddenly, Sasuke had to rather miserably question himself about that decision.

They ate for a while in silence, much to Sasuke's relief. However, that did not stop Kakashi from staring intently at him from across the table. It took every last ounce of his self-restraint to keep himself from slamming his chopsticks down and pulling out a kunai to throw directly between Kakashi's eyes. Squeezing his eyes shut in frustration, Sasuke forcefully lifted more rice into his mouth while silently cursing the boy across the table.

"Do you have another mission tomorrow?" Kakashi asked suddenly, making Sasuke pause. "It's kind of boring staying here all day while you're gone. I can't go out either since others will find out about my situation."

A tinge of guilt sparked in Sasuke. As if he could have helped it, he thought to himself rather bitterly. There seemed to be an overwhelming amount of missions that needed to be done recently, and Tsunade seemed to be keen on handing said missions to Sasuke's team. He could have sworn Shikamaru and Neji's team had already been on vacation for three days.

Rather reluctantly, Sasuke mumbled with a bit of embarrassment, "Well, I guess we can do some grocery shopping after we finish eating. You can get out for a little at least. As long as you cover up, that is."

"Ah, a date at last!" Kakashi exclaimed cheerfully while dipping his chopsticks into his bowl with more energy. "I'll look forward to it then."

"It's not a date," Sasuke scowled, sinking down slightly in his seat. Over the last few days, perhaps even accumulated from past years, Kakashi had learned just how to push Sasuke's buttons. Just as he was about to open his mouth to retort again, he realized the sound of Kakashi's breathing had grown unsteady. It was another one of those.

Brows furrowed, Sasuke quickly rose from his seat and made his way around the table to kneel by Kakashi's crumpling form. Tsunade had warned him about this in the documents she had Naruto drop off the day after Kakashi's arrival. Since the state of the cells in Kakashi's body is extremely unstable, he would experience frequent breakdowns of a sort as well as contractions when his bones began to lengthen again. Once the chakra is properly flowing through his body again, he would be fine. Sasuke recalled whatever other details Tsunade had left him while allowing Kakashi to lean heavily on him. Slowly, the unnatural breathing pattern began to smoothen again.

"Sorry," Kakashi apologized sheepishly, pulling away from Sasuke. "I'm not used to being so helpless."

"But you should be used to being an idiot," Sasuke retorted, rising to his feet again. He turned to make his way back to the other side of the table, but on retrospect, he paused and mussed Kakashi's hair a bit. With a bit of embarrassment in his voice, he stated, "Stop making me worry."

"So you were worried?" the younger teen asked in amusement, suddenly beaming up at Sasuke. "You're so cute, Sasuke."

"Shut up," Sasuke snapped with a heated face before stomping back to his seat. He immediately regretted his previous actions. All the more reason to despise Kakashi and his relentless teasing.

They finished their meal in cheerful, on Kakashi's part at least, silence. Sasuke forced himself to remain patient, a more difficult feat than he had imagined. Kakashi was having far too much fun with the situation. He was exploiting the "but I'm just a child" factor a bit too well in Sasuke's opinion. Sasuke frowned while roughly scrubbing at the last of the dirty dishes. He had to wonder yet again what he was thinking when he allowed Kakashi to stay.

Once the household chores were taken care of and Kakashi was fully cloaked from head to toe, the two made their way out towards the supermarket under the night sky. They walked in silence, except for the few times Sasuke gruffly muttered a brief "hello" to whoever happened to greet him along the way.

It was getting a bit more difficult to ignore the whispers that were surrounding them. Sasuke could no longer use the babysitting excuse. Although Kakashi was still supposedly a few years younger than him, their height was relatively close with Kakashi just short enough so that Sasuke could barely gaze over the top of his head. In other words, Sasuke was running out of excuses to explain that no, he did _not_ pick up some kind of shady girlfriend, which had come to be the popular assumption of the masses.

It was unlike him to be careless, but Sasuke was so frustrated with his thoughts that he ran directly into a tall figure before him. He let out a brief "oof" at the contact before backing up to rub the side of his face. The sight of whom he had run into made him smirk slightly. It was about time he owed Kakashi a bit of payback.

"Good evening, Gai," Sasuke said loudly in a sickening tone of sweetness as he shot a smirk over his shoulder at the noticeably irked Kakashi.

"Ah, Sasuke!" Gai replied just as loudly with twice the enthusiasm. He paused for a second to look from side to side before leaning over to whisper, "How's Kakashi?"

"Oh, he's great," Sasuke replied with interest, reaching back to grab Kakashi's hand and drag him forward before he could escape. "In fact, he's right here. Say hello, Kakashi."

Kakashi's visible eye twitched slightly. A bit forcedly, he crinkled his eye and managed to mutter with a brief wave of the hand, "Aha… Yo, Gai-kun…"

"You've gotten big already!" Gai boomed, making Kakashi flinch slightly and Sasuke smirk with more satisfaction. He went on, making a few people look at them strangely, "The power of youth burns strongly in you!"

"Uh, yeah… Sure…"

Sasuke was enjoying this. Kakashi had a combined look of boredom and irritation on his face as Gai began babbling about one thing or the other. He had Gai may have been rivals, but that did not necessarily mean that Kakashi could take much of this. Oh, but Sasuke was far from done yet.

"How is it living with Sasuke?" Gai inquired.

Before Kakashi could mutter an answer, Sasuke intercepted and placed a hand roughly on the top of Kakashi's head. "It's great," he said loudly, fighting valiantly not to snicker. "Kakashi does house chores while I'm gone, and we sleep together at night. He's just _adorable_, isn't he?"

Kakashi shot Sasuke a childish glare. This made Sasuke pleased.

Leaning over slightly towards the slightly blushing Gai, Sasuke whispered wickedly, "You want to know what he wears to sleep?"

Gai's jaw nearly dropped open. The thought of such a young and cute Kakashi…at night…dressed in—… Well, that's not important. Although, his nose _was_ close to bleeding.

Before the man could properly form a coherent response (most likely "yes," unfortunately for Kakashi), Sasuke strolled away towards the market, waving his hand slightly. "I'll be right back. Watch Kakashi for a while, won't you?"

He could feel Kakashi's gaze on his back as he made his way towards the market, and somehow, that only served to further amuse him. Sasuke felt particularly pleased with himself for the first time in days. Finally some revenge for all the times Kakashi seemed to have the upper hand, and considering their present setting, Kakashi nearly always had the upper hand.

Just as he was about to enter the market, there was a tap on his shoulder. Since Sasuke was in a terribly good mood, he turned around and was not scowling and throwing death glares at the person who bothered him. A frail looking man was behind him with a nervous expression plastered on his face. His mouth opened and closed for a second before he whimpered, "P-Please help, I dropped my wallet in the alley. It's everything I have…"

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder briefly to check on Kakashi. Noting that Kakashi was still in the same spot, being lectured—or so it looked—by Gai, Sasuke turned on his heel and faced the old man. "Which way?"

The man nodded mutely in gratefulness before shakily stepping towards the alley beside the market. Sasuke felt something nagging at him—telling this was a bad idea. As he went further into the alley, he reached down to grab a kunai and hid it in his sleeve. The man stopped suddenly and turned around to stare apologetically at him. Sasuke heightened his awareness. There were at least five others hiding in the shadows.

"I-I'm sorry," the old man stuttered, sincerely apologetic as the predicted five thieves stepped into the moonlight. "They have my d-daughter. Please forgive me!"

"Be sure to cooperate with us, nii-chan," one of the thieves piped up with a wicked grin, pulling a little girl by her hair into the light as well. When the old man let out a shout of protest, another thief kicked him to the ground as the first pointed a kunai at the crying girl's neck. Redirecting his gaze at Sasuke, he continued with a smirk, "You wouldn't want anything to happen to this little girl would you?"

Gritting his teeth, Sasuke obediently dropped his kunai with a sharp glare at the thief holding the girl captive. He dropped his defensive stance and allowed the other thieves to close in on him. With closed fists, Sasuke closed his eyes and waited. There were only a few of them. Nothing he wouldn't be able to handle.

Sasuke's eyes immediately shot open again when he felt hands patting him down. Although it was obvious the men were searching for his wallet, Sasuke felt extremely agitated at their intrusive gropes. Just as he turned to glare at the leader again, the thief smirked and pointed the kunai closer to the girl's throat. For the moment, Sasuke had no choice but to surrender attempts to escape.

A sudden sharp pain on his left arm caused Sasuke to let out a hiss. One of the thieves had cut his arm with a kunai as a silent threat. The first cut was followed by another on his right cheek. As much as he wanted to pummel the men into oblivion, he had to think of the girl's safety first. Just for now, he had to endure it a bit. Just a bit. Then when they let their guard down…

"Sasuke!"

Quicker than a blink of the eye, there was a flash and when Sasuke looked around him, all the thieves were on the floor unconscious. He instantly spun to where the girl was. Seeing her sobbing in her old father's arms with Gai at their side, Sasuke closed his eyes and let out a breath of relief. She was safe.

"Sasuke…"

Instantly, Sasuke let his eyes snap open again when arms tightened around his body. That was right. He had forgotten that he had also been saved, as embarrassing as it was. And the one who saved him was presently embracing him as if they were never to see each other again. Sasuke relaxed and let his head droop slightly.

"I'm fine, Kakashi," the dark haired teen sighed, nudging the other teen a bit in attempt to pull away. "Nothing happened."

Kakashi remained silent and only pulled Sasuke closer, surprising the dark haired teen into stiffening. Tightening his hold again, Kakashi kept his face hidden on Sasuke's shoulder. After a few moments of silence passed, Kakashi muttered quietly, "They hurt you. They…!"

Finally understanding his reasoning, Sasuke relaxed and slowly let his arms come up to lightly hold the other teen's shaking back. His eyes slipped closed again as his hold became a gentle embrace. Quietly he whispered, "I'm fine. I'm sorry for making you worried."

Beside them, Gai and the father-daughter pair watched them in silence as they continued to embrace in the moonlight.

---

They returned home in silence. In the end, Sasuke was unable to buy the groceries he originally planned on buying. After what had happened with the thieves, Kakashi refused to release his hold on Sasuke's hand. The thieves were arrested and the old man and his daughter were sent home safely after expressing their infinite gratitude for the their help. All the while this was occurring, Kakashi had not even thought of loosening his protective grasp on Sasuke's hand. Sasuke had to lower his head in embarrassment when the policeman stared questioningly at their linked hands.

Dropping his shoes at the door, Sasuke stepped into the house with a sigh. Nothing had been accomplished that night. That meant he would have to go again tomorrow, and tomorrow was a mission day. Letting out another depleted sigh, Sasuke tossed his cloak on the kitchen table along with the shopping list. Glancing over his shoulder to see Kakashi still rooted by the door, Sasuke frowned. "Kakashi," he called, "go take a bath. It's already late."

Obediently, Kakashi slipped his sandals off and padded into the house but stopped directly in front of Sasuke. "You have a mission tomorrow, don't you? You take one first."

Sasuke firmly shook his head and spun Kakashi around towards the bathroom. "No," he stated decisively. "I have to make sure you're taken care of first."

"You don't always have to treat me like a child," Kakashi replied darkly before stomping off to retrieve a towel.

Once Kakashi finally locked himself in the bathroom, Sasuke closed his eyes and collapsed onto his couch in exasperation. Opening his eyes again, he stared gruffly at the wall across from him where several scrolls were hanging. "Don't be an idiot," he muttered in a slight scowl. "I only do it because I worry."

Inside the bathroom, Kakashi was sulking in the bathtub. He had actually been frightened earlier. He had just managed to catch Sasuke disappearing into the alley out of the corner of his eye. When the dark haired teen did not reappear for a few minutes, he began to worry. Whatever Gai was saying to him went in one ear and out the other. That was when he stiffly turned and charged towards the alley, heart pounding wildly.

He hated to admit it, but he had struggled slightly. His entire body was in pain the entire time he was viciously beating Sasuke's captors. No matter how hard he tried, he found he could not suppress the aching guilt of being unable to completely protect Sasuke. It was not that he thought Sasuke was incapable of taking care of himself, but more fore his own selfish reasons.

It was exactly those selfish reasons he was concerned about.

They kept getting stronger—the selfish desires to keep Sasuke to himself. It was making his time spent in Sasuke's home more and more difficult. Especially considering the phase he was presently in. Kakashi dipped his head slightly lower in the water and pouted childishly at the wall he was facing.

He had been hiding it very well, but his body was definitely undergoing its change _now_. Puberty had already hit in and it was making Kakashi painfully aware of Sasuke's presence everywhere. As if his previous feelings weren't already enough. Being like this was more hell for Kakashi than Sasuke, he was sure. After all, Kakashi was the one that had to sit and watch Sasuke do everything so damn suggestively and still be expected to behave. Kakashi did not have the slightest idea how, but Sasuke was even able to make washing the dishes look suggestive. Yes, the puberty speaks loudly. Very loudly.

Kakashi scrubbed viciously at his skin for a while, still slightly upset over the occurrences of the day. Just for good measure, he ducked his head into the soapy water and held it there for a bit in attempt to drain his mind of irritating thoughts. Once he brought his head to the surface again, he frowned once more at the wall was his hair drooped down over his face. After he decided he had finished being childish, he drained the tub and rinsed himself with fresh water.

When he stepped out of the bathroom, steam instantly escaping, Kakashi was surprised to find Sasuke napping on the couch. He grinned wickedly. It was oh-so rare to find Sasuke with his guard down lately. He could definitely use this situation to his advantage.

Carefully, Kakashi tiptoed over to the couch's side and squatted so that he was eyelevel with Sasuke's sleeping face. For some reason—it had to be the changing body, damn it—Kakashi felt himself becoming mesmerized by his former student's adorable sleeping face. From the time he was twelve until the present day, Sasuke's face hardly seemed to change at all.

Well, he _did_ become a bit more adult-like and developed, making it much easier for Kakashi to imagine him in—

"What do you think you're doing?" Sasuke asked sharply, eyes open and narrowed directly at Kakashi.

"Ah, and here I thought I would have to kiss you to wake you up," Kakashi sighed aloud and dramatically, tossing the back of his palm to his forehead for special emphasis. "There you have to go and ruin my fun."

Sasuke simply rolled his eyes and sat up on the couch, stretching his arms a bit as he did so. Kakashi was watching him in silence now, but he was using that gaze that always seemed to make the hairs on the back of Sasuke's neck rise. Not particularly because it was creepy, but more because Sasuke was unable to figure out what Kakashi was thinking—which, actually, he should have been used to by now, but it still felt awkward. Stiffly, he asked, "What're you staring at?"

"Oh, you know," Kakashi replied with a careless shrug and cheerful expression. "Just the usual. Mentally undressing you and all."

Still smiling cheerfully, Kakashi easily dodged the various weapons Sasuke lashed out at him.

Sasuke was seething.

"Sasuke," Kakashi called in a singsong voice, apparently fearless, waving his hand in front of Sasuke's narrowed eyes. He smiled cheerfully when Sasuke scowled darkly at him. "You'd better hurry and take a shower. You have a mission tomorrow, after all."

Dragging himself to his feet, Sasuke commanded, "Go to bed."

Kakashi simply grinned back cheekily as Sasuke strode wearily towards the bathroom. Once Sasuke disappeared into the bathroom, Kakashi cocked his head to the side and stared fondly at the door for a moment. He had to feel slightly sorry for Sasuke. The dark haired teen _had_ been through a great deal in one day. After all, this very morning, Sasuke had been so shocked by waking up cuddled up with Kakashi that he squawked awkwardly, flailed madly, and wound up on the floor with a crash. Then to make the moment even more bitterly perfect, the neighbors from the apartment below them beat on the ceiling with a broom and let out a muffled, chastising yell about keeping couple activities for nighttime. Sasuke left for his mission later with a thoroughly reddened face.

Then there was the whole attempted robbery incident, which Kakashi was still fuming about on the inside. Speaking of which, steam was presently streaming out of the bathroom. Kakashi blinked and slid off the couch. As he tiptoed closer to the bathroom, he found a wicked smirk slowly curving his lips. How convenient. Sasuke was so riled up he apparently had not realized that when he slammed the door, it bounced back and stayed open a crack.

For a moment, Kakashi paused to think about the situation. Sasuke had had a long, hard day and was probably using the shower to drown out his miseries. On the other hand, Kakashi was painfully aware of the fact that his body was driving him absolutely mad thanks very much to previously said person. Oh, the choices.

Retreating with a sigh, Kakashi sat back and leaned his head against the wall next to the door. The most irritating thing about being this way was that he could not blame everything on childish ignorance. He was still mentally an adult, and adults knew better than to spy on someone else while they were showering.

Kakashi's super hearing allowed him to overhear Sasuke let out a breathy sigh of exasperation. That was when his self-control flew out the window.

Now he _had_ to look.

Painstakingly carefully, he edged towards the open door. Actually, the view was not as good as he had hoped. The actual visibility, that was. There was fog and steam everywhere—hardly even a chance to get a clear glance at Sasuke. Had he been more desperate, he would have used the sharingan. But he wasn't that desperate, he reassured himself. Yes. Definitely.

Hearing the water turn off, Kakashi dared another peek. Sasuke was leaning tiredly against the wall, one hand on the water knob. His sleek body was glistening with water, and his hair was dripping water down to his feet. Kakashi felt his heart beat uncontrollably faster. Had he been an adult, he was sure he could have handled something simple like this. But the way he was now, it was difficult to control the functions of his body.

Suddenly, his heart was pounding too hard and his body began to burn. Great. Just what he needed at a time like this, another one of those painful growth spurts. Squeezing his eyes shut, Kakashi backed away from the door just when he felt his spine begin to stretch. Unable to take the burning pain any longer, he crinkled to the ground, breath ragged.

Sasuke instinctively lifted his head and gazed suspiciously at the door when he heard a light thump. He quickly grabbed a towel to wrap around himself, feeling a blush rise to his face. That damn Kakashi, Sasuke thought to himself with gritted teeth as he marched towards the door. Jerking the door open, he was surprised to find Kakashi curled up pitifully at his feet, gasping desperately from the overwhelming pain.

"K-Kakashi!"

All thoughts of punishment for spying on him instantly receded in Sasuke's mind as sank down to his knees to attend to the smaller teen. Once the brief cell growth period was over, Kakashi was too exhausted to even open his eyes completely. He was completely out of breath and could only stare helplessly up at the ceiling in misery. Sasuke could only pick the boy up and carry him to the bed where he remained for the rest of the night in silence.

Switching the light off, Sasuke backed out of the room with a sigh. There were more trials to the situation than he had previously expected, and it would only continue to get more difficult. At that, Sasuke spared Kakashi one more glance before retreating to search for his clothes in the bathroom.

Inside, Kakashi could only stare blankly at the ceiling, wishing to himself he had been able to come under different circumstances.

---

For a while, they slept on the same bed for space saving purposes. But when Kakashi hit puberty—not that Sasuke was aware of yet, of course—he decided to finally get around to asking Sasuke for an extra futon. Sasuke readily agreed. After all, it was difficult to forget the time Naruto decided to swing in from the window to call Sasuke for their mission only to see the two curled up neatly in bed together. Naruto teased him for weeks. In fact, the blond still was not over that little incident yet.

Sasuke had slept on the floor the previous night since Kakashi occupied the bed. Kakashi felt slightly guilty since the dark haired teen _did_ have a mission in the morning and he really should have rested more comfortably. He was awake when Sasuke woke up and prepared his various weapons and scrolls. Kakashi watched his former student through his lashes. Of course, he should have known that Sasuke would know he was awake.

"I'll be back tonight," Sasuke called as he grabbed his headband from the dresser. He did not even have to look to know Kakashi was awake, although pretending to be asleep, and watching him silently. Pausing at the door, Sasuke glanced back over his shoulder in well-disguised concern. Turning his head back, he sighed before slipping out, "Take care of yourself, you idiot."

Kakashi opened his eyes and sat up after Sasuke left. He turned slightly to look out the window, watching until Sasuke met up with Naruto at the foot of the stairs and the two took off to meet their other cell members. Once they were completely out of sight, he turned to kick the sheets off and dangle his feet over the edge of the bed. Time for another dull and boring day without Sasuke around.

Much to his surprise, however, hardly after he had dressed himself and stepped into the kitchen there was a knock at the door. Kakashi paused for a while, unsure of whether or not to answer. After all, he had been strictly warned against revealing to others his current situation. The knock sounded again, and this time a ringing voice joined it.

"Kakashi-san, are you in there?" Iruka's voice called from the other side of the door with another knock. "I'm aware of the situation. Will you open the door please?"

Stiffly, Kakashi edged towards the door and pulled it open a crack. He very slowly and carefully tilted his head to peek out through where the door left its frame.

Sure enough, Iruka stood patiently at the doorstep, gazing down questioningly at him with a slightly surprised expression. Kakashi was sure his present state was enough to make a few questions arise, but he hardly doubted that. Seeing that Iruka was sincere, Kakashi pulled the door open just wide enough for the adult to slide in.

"I heard from Sasuke, but I really don't think I was prepared to see you like this," Iruka said with a laugh as he patted the top of Kakashi's head. As he presently was, Kakashi was still at least a head shorter than him. Iruka grinned. "I suppose I don't need to call you 'sensei' anymore. How about 'Kakashi-kun'?"

"What exactly are you doing here?" Kakashi asked, more out of curiosity than to be rude. For Sasuke to tell Iruka about the situation, the circumstances must have been serious.

"Sasuke and Naruto came by to check in before they left for their mission," Iruka began, making his way towards the kitchen, "and Sasuke simply asked me to keep you company while he was gone. He said you were complaining about it before."

At that, Kakashi felt his heart skip a beat. So Sasuke had been thinking of him after all. The very thought made Kakashi smile to himself just a bit more.

"He cares about you very much," Iruka commented with a smile, noticing Kakashi's pleased expression. "Not just as a teacher, but as a friend as well. I could tell he was embarrassed when he told me about your case." He laughed at the memory. "He actually blushed, and Naruto pestered him about it even after they left."

Kakashi wished he could have seen it.

"Iruka-sensei," Kakashi piped up rather suddenly, making the older man blink in surprise. Serious expression on his face, Kakashi declared in a firm voice, "I think I'm in love with him."

Iruka blinked a few more times, attempting to fully process his words. Then, his jaw nearly dropped open. A blush instantly covered his face as he sank miserably down into a chair at the kitchen table across from Kakashi. "Hold on, just a minute… This is sudden—"

"It's not sudden," Kakashi cut in immediately. "As an adult, I kept thinking of how cute he was, but the way I am now, I'm really starting to think I like him. Whenever he walks around the house all—"

"I see where this is going," Iruka cut in similarly to the Kakashi previously had. Slowly he brought a hand up to his forehead as he let out a sigh. "By any chance have you hit your puberty stage?"

"Is it that obvious?" Kakashi asked, cocking his head to the side.

"And is Sasuke aware?"

"No," the teen replied with a shrug. "I've been hiding it from him."

"You're bottling up too much stress," Iruka sighed. "Don't you think these feelings of yours have been created by the moment? I mean, I know you have strong feelings for him—he was your student, after all. Don't you think you may have mistranslated them a bit?"

Kakashi simply stared at him in response. Iruka was sure he was thinking about it. Well, at least, he _hoped_ Kakashi was thinking about it. He was admittedly a bit concerned about Kakashi's dangerous development toward his student, but Iruka also believed in properly following one's own emotions. He just wanted Kakashi to be sure of them before he acted on them.

"Iruka-sensei," Kakashi said suddenly, breaking the man out of his trance. With an innocent smile plastered on his face, he asked sweetly, "Do you have a picture of Sasuke?"

Blinking, Iruka asked in confusion, "Why do you need one?"

"Sasuke's doing his laundry tomorrow morning," Kakashi explained a bit dully but still with an innocent expression and tone. "That means he won't have much left to wear and when he's like that I always get—"

"Stop right there!" Iruka jumped in, flushing slightly in embarrassment. While Kakashi continued to grin lopsidedly at him in a very mischievous way (Iruka was somewhat reminded of Naruto at that), Iruka dropped his head in exasperation. It seemed whatever he had previously said seemed to go in one ear and out the other.

"I'm kidding," Kakashi said with a cheerful laugh. "Well, mostly, but that's beside the point. I really am grateful for your company, Iruka."

As Kakashi's expression grew more sincere, Iruka smiled back and was completely reassured. As long as it was Kakashi, Iruka was sure he would be able to find an answer for himself.

"Good," Iruka declared loudly. "You can help me with my paperwork."

Kakashi instantly pouted.

"…cheapskate."

---

When Sasuke returned home from his mission, Kakashi and Iruka were playing cards in the kitchen. From the sound of Kakashi's smooth laughter and Iruka's frustrated sputters, Sasuke gathered that Kakashi was likely to be winning. He ducked his head a bit lower to smile to himself. At least Kakashi had not been too lonely while he was out today. He made a mental note to invite Iruka back the next day as well.

"Well, it seems Sasuke's back," Iruka declared, dropping his cards onto the table. Sasuke had just disappeared into the bathroom for a shower. While his card companion reorganized the deck, Iruka rose to his feet and stretched his arms out. When Kakashi looked up at him, he smiled. "I'll be going then. I trust you'll behave yourself?"

"Define 'behave,'" Kakashi replied very seriously.

Iruka simply laughed as he stepped away from the table and made his way towards the door. Before he slipped out, he called "Thanks for helping with the paperwork. I was serious about behaving yourself though! Good night."

Kakashi gave a wave and turned towards the bathroom the moment the front door clicked shut. He had learned his lesson last time and would refrain from spying on Sasuke in the shower. Instead, he hopped off his chair only to flop himself onto the couch, waiting impatiently for Sasuke to reappear.

It only took a few minutes for Sasuke to finish his shower and reemerge from the bathroom. He blinked in surprise when Kakashi bolted up from his spot on the couch and leaned over the back to grin innocently at him. Feeling slightly unnerved, Sasuke turned his head and draped his towel over his head to dry his hair while stating, "You can use the shower now."

"I took one before you got back," Kakashi replied cheerfully, hopping lightly from the couch to tail Sasuke into the bedroom. He almost laughed when Sasuke twitched at the sound of the door closing behind them. Sasuke could be so cute and paranoid, although he was probably given good reason to be. Kakashi fought hard to keep a chuckle from escaping.

It took a moment for Sasuke to regain his nerves, after a quick shake of his head, and he sat at the edge of his bed with a sigh. He instantly froze again when Kakashi stood calmly before him, towering over him with a rather suspicious expression. To Sasuke, Kakashi may as well have been wearing devil horns and a tail. An awkward blush rising on his face, he turned away yet again to face the wall. "D…Did you have fun with Iruka today?"

"Oh, about that, thank you," Kakashi said with a sincere smile on his face, making Sasuke turn back towards him just a bit. Slowly, Kakashi leaned forward to lightly finger the end of Sasuke's bangs that hung limply at the side of his face. Still smiling, he went on, "I had fun, but I still rather have you home."

Although his motives were somewhat questionable, Kakashi seemed to have a more relaxed expression than how he was the day before. It put Sasuke at ease a bit more—enough so that he somehow failed to notice the loving way Kakashi was playing with his hair. Closing his eyes, he said with a very slight smile, "At least you seem better today."

At that, Kakashi felt his heart beat just a bit louder and before he could control himself, he pulled a surprised Sasuke into his arms pushed them both back onto the bed. Hugging the dark haired teen tightly, Kakashi squeezed his eyes shut. The childish instincts were taking over again. "Sasuke…!"

"I guess you're still just a kid at heart," Sasuke commented with a sigh from his upturned lips. Reaching out, he pat Kakashi's back lightly before attempting to push himself up. When Kakashi did not budge and pushed him back down on the bed again, Sasuke figured he should start being a bit more concerned about their present positioning and the fact that he was half naked. Flushing brightly, Sasuke pushed vainly up at Kakashi's shoulders. "K-Kakashi! Get off now!"

"No," he mumbled, lifting his head enough to gaze deeply into Sasuke's widened eyes. Leaning back down again, he pressed his lips gently against the dark haired teen's while effectively pinning him down. Sasuke had gone completely rigid in shock, and Kakashi did not want to waste the opportunity. "Sasuke, I…"

After finally recovering from the shock of being suddenly kissed, Sasuke blushed wildly and flailed his limbs angrily. Again, he attempted to push Kakashi off of him, but his actions were almost useless as Kakashi easily dodged every swing at him and was hardly affected at all by the hits that did connect. Sasuke was just a bit frightened. "S-Stop! Get off me, Kakashi! You're just a _kid_! How can I let you—…!"

Kakashi stiffened visibly. Dropping his head low, he sat up straight and let Sasuke free. Climbing off the bed, Kakashi backed away from Sasuke, who was still staring bewilderedly at him. Gazing almost forlornly at him, Kakashi asked with a bitter smile, "Is that what bothers you? I guess age does matter after all."

Sasuke remained immobile from where he was on his bed. When Kakashi changed his smile to a cheerful one yet again, he felt guilt and concern flood into him. Slowly, he began, "K-Kakashi…"

"Sorry about that," Kakashi laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "It must be the puberty kicking in, you know? Anyway, I'll sleep on the couch tonight. Good night, Sasuke!"

Although he was smiling, Kakashi was clearly hiding something. Despite how Sasuke wanted to say something condoling, he found he lacked the words to do so. Instead, he closed his eyes and decided to forget anything had happened. It was the least he could do for him.

"Good night."

Tsuzuku.

--- --- ---

**A/N:** Man, divider tool isn't working. x.x; Ahem. Sorry this chapter took so long to get out! It's just extremely long, so...yes, that's my excuse. Aha, forgive me, ok? Anyway! The plot thickens! And will continue to thicken into the next chapter and the one after that :D I hope you've all enjoyed this chapter!

Oh, and to make up for being late, I offer a cheap apology gift:

**Next Stage Preview:**

"Oh, and Sakura-chan's coming back for her extended mission today."

Kakashi froze.

"Oh, a date?" Iruka teased, nudging Naruto lightly.

"It better not be!" Naruto exclaimed firmly, crossing his arms. "Well, I doubt it anyway. I mean, if Tsunade-no-baachan wanted both of them for something, it's probably work related. Although, I am kind of worried."

"About Sasuke or Sakura?" Iruka teased again with a wider grin.

"Iruka-sensei!"

The two at the front door were so busy teasing each other, they failed to notice how tense Kakashi had suddenly become. There was something extremely unnerving about a mix between Tsunade, Sakura, and Sasuke. Especially Sakura and Sasuke. Kakashi most definitely could not forget Tsunade's original intention for him to stay with Sakura since she was a medic and could better provide for his situation.

Staying with Sakura meant he would not be able to stay with Sasuke anymore. And not staying with Sasuke anymore meant he would not be able to tease him, watch him sleep, wait forever for him to finish his showers, and bother him all the time. Kakashi did not like this at all. He may have been acting self-centered, but he decided to blame it on his child form later.

"I'm going."

--- --- ---

I said it was cheap, didn't I? XD

Thanks for reading! Please review if you can! I will love you forever if you do. 8D


	3. Stage Three

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but the lame plot. D:

**Pairing:** Kakashi x Sasuke

**Re-Rejuvenated**

_By: yukuro_

**Stage Three:** Adolescence

If Kakashi thought he was miserable before, he was ready to take that back and call the moments he had been spending lately compete agony. A week had already passed since he lost control and kissed Sasuke, but he was still agonizing about that moment despite the time. He should have expected to be ill received. After all, Sasuke _was_ more innocent than he appeared. Also, he could not exactly overlook the fact that the person who had suddenly kissed him was his teacher. Oh, and in child form. That pretty much took the cake.

Kakashi was expecting the dark haired teen to be mentally traumatized, shocked, awkward, shy, _something_ at least. He needed _some_ kind of sign to figure out what Sasuke was feeling. But Sasuke was completely unchanged. In fact, it was as if nothing had happened at all. Kakashi vaguely wondered if Sasuke had simply forgotten or thought it was some kind of dream. Also, it was not helping that Kakashi had not grown in the slightest since that occurrence. It was like a bad reminder. Groaning out loud, he dropped his head soundly on the table on top of his share of Iruka's paperwork he was previously attempting to fill out.

"You know, acting like that really isn't going to help your situation," Iruka commented wisely, placing another sheet of paper neatly on top of the stack to his right—the "complete" stack.

He had been putting up with Kakashi's various tortured expressions and acts for the past week, ever since Kakashi woefully blurted out everything that happened the moment he stepped into the room the day after the incident. The way Kakashi was, Iruka had to wonder if Kakashi was actually experiencing a woman's puberty rather than a man's. At that, he chuckled quietly to himself. He supposed he should be grateful. As far as he knew, Kakashi was far from sociable when he was young. This was probably another opportunity for him to live his life, and Iruka got to be part of it. That was an honor, wasn't it?

"But it makes me feel better," Kakashi moaned, lifting his head with several sheets of paper stuck to his forehead. "Why doesn't he say anything about it? I just don't get it."

"Ever considered, oh, I don't know, _talking_ to him about what happened?" Iruka asked grimly with an exasperated sigh as he reached over to retrieve the papers that were stuck to Kakashi's forehead. All right, so maybe he had to reconsider how fortunate he was to be a part of the situation. After the papers were safely in hand, Iruka extended his other arm to pat the teen's head affectionately. "Kakashi, don't lose your adult rationale."

"If he's trying to forget, I figure I shouldn't bother him about it," Kakashi sighed in a more serious tone as he sat upright and ran a hand roughly through his hair.

"Isn't that your answer then?" Iruka asked gently, replacing his papers onto the stack. He silently noted that Kakashi looked just a bit more miserable right then. Quietly, Iruka went on, "Although it's hard, part of being an adult is knowing when to give up everything for a child's sake. I'm sure you know that."

"I hate being an adult sometimes," Kakashi grumbled, falling forward again to rest his head on the table.

Seeing that Kakashi's mood had brightened from the previous solemnity, Iruka smiled. Laughing lightly, he teased, "That's a little ironic coming from your present state, you know."

"You were the one who had to point out the fact that I'm still an adult," Kakashi accused childishly. "Ah, and here I thought I could enjoy being a kid again for a while."

"I think you've had enough fun as it is," Iruka declared loudly. "In fact, from what I hear so far, you're practically exploiting your use of situation." A bit of a devious expression came onto Iruka's face as he stated offhandedly, "But you know, if you're bored, I can always enroll you in the academy again. We'll be off summer break soon…"

"No thanks," Kakashi replied instantly, crossing his arms before him just for good measure while Iruka snickered to himself. He smiled slightly to himself once Iruka returned his attention to his work. Over this course of time, he had made himself a good friend, and he had Sasuke to thank for that. He had Sasuke to thank for many things that had happened. He had not wanted to admit it, but this second childhood really was more fun since Sasuke was at his side. Kakashi chuckled quietly to himself. Now he knew a little how Naruto felt.

"Hmm… It's getting to be that time soon…"

Blinking, Kakashi looked up, snapped out of his train of thought. Iruka was gazing out the window at the setting sun with a slight frown. Kakashi had almost forgotten that Iruka was assigned a mission for that day and would have to leave early. Glumly, he helped the man organize his papers and put them away into his bag.

"Sorry I can't stay longer," Iruka apologized once all the papers were put away and Kakashi was staring out the window in boredom. "But Sasuke said he wouldn't be out long today right? He should be back any minute now."

As if on cue, there was a brief knock on the door and Naruto barged in. Grinning widely, he greeted the two, "Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei!"

"What are you doing back, Naruto?" Iruka questioned, walking towards the blond to tap the top of his head lightly with a file he had in hand. "Did you finish your mission already? Where's Sasuke?"

Naruto shrugged and slipped his sandals off. Standing up straight again, he explained, "Actually, we finished our mission a while ago. Sasuke and I were waiting at Tsunade-no-baachan's to submit the special report. Anyway, he's still there now. Since we knew Iruka-sensei had to leave early, Sasuke asked me to come keep Kakashi-sensei company."

"Does he really think I need a babysitter all the time or something?" Kakashi mumbled to himself.

"Nah, he's just worried about you," Naruto laughed, miraculously hearing Kakashi's mumbling from across the room. "He tries really hard to hide it though. What an idiot. Trying to act cool all the time."

Kakashi was suddenly immensely glad for his facemask. He was probably uncharacteristically blushing right about now underneath the black cloth.

Iruka smiled, knowing that Kakashi probably needed to hear those reassuring words from someone besides him. Reaching for his sandals, he asked the blond, "What's the occasion, Naruto? It usually doesn't take very long to submit a report. Even a confidential one. What's holding Sasuke up for so long?"

"Hmm," Naruto hummed thoughtfully for a moment, bring his hand up to tap his chin. "Tsunade-no-baachan wanted to talk to him about something, or something like that. Oh, and Sakura-chan's coming back for her extended mission today."

Kakashi froze.

"Oh, a date?" Iruka teased, nudging Naruto lightly.

"It better not be!" Naruto exclaimed firmly, crossing his arms. "Well, I doubt it anyway. I mean, if Tsunade-no-baachan wanted both of them for something, it's probably work related. Although, I _am_ a bit worried."

"About Sasuke or Sakura?" Iruka teased again with a wider grin.

"_Iruka-sensei_!"

The two at the front door were so busy teasing each other, they failed to notice how tense Kakashi had suddenly become. There was something extremely unnerving about a mix between Tsunade, Sakura, and Sasuke. Especially Sakura and Sasuke. Kakashi most definitely could not forget Tsunade's original intention for him to stay with Sakura since she was a medic and could better provide for his situation.

Staying with Sakura meant he would not be able to stay with Sasuke anymore. And not staying with Sasuke anymore meant he would not be able to tease him, watch him sleep, wait forever for him to finish his showers, and bother him all the time. Kakashi did not like this at all. He may have been acting self-centered, but he decided to blame it on his child form later.

"I'm going."

"Huh?" Naruto and Iruka asked simultaneously as Kakashi pushed away from the kitchen table and disappeared into the bedroom. Confused, the two exchanged glances.

When Kakashi reemerged, he had a handful of familiar scrolls at hand. Once he returned to the living room, he dropped the scrolls on the floor and plopped himself down into a sitting position beside the pile. Naruto and Iruka were still watching him curiously, unsure of what he was planning.

"Ack! I'm going to be late!" Iruka exclaimed in a panic when he realized he had been dragging out his time. Securing his papers and sandals, he opened the door and slipped out, not before warning sternly, "You two _behave_. Naruto, make sure you keep a close eye on him. He's been unpredictable these days."

"Kakashi-sensei is always unpredictable," Naruto laughed as he waved goodbye to Iruka. Once the door was shut again, Naruto let his hands fall on his waist and returned his attention to Kakashi, who looked like he was trying to chose from the scrolls. Strolling over, Naruto asked in curiosity, "So what are you doing with those? Going to summon something?"

"I'll just stick with Pakkun," Kakashi finally decided, lifting his hand to his lips.

Naruto sighed when Kakashi ignored him and proceeded to bite his finger for some blood. It was almost funny. Suddenly, he felt like the teacher and Kakashi was the student. The blond grinned to himself. It was way too funny.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu," Kakashi mumbled, pressing his hand down to the ground. In a small poof of smoke, Pakkun appeared on top of the pile of scrolls and saluted his master.

"Well then, are you going to let me in on what you're planning, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, squatting down to help clean the scrolls up.

As if suddenly possessed by an evil spirit, Kakashi turned to grin wickedly at the blond. Devious glint in his eyes, he asked offhandedly, "Say, Naruto. You're worried about Sasuke too, aren't you?"

Blinking in surprise, Naruto drew back, fully aware of the bright red blush that was staining his face. "W-What are you talking about? Obviously the one I'm worried about is Sakura-chan!"

"Right, right, whatever," Kakashi said with a careless wave of his hand.

"Argh, you don't believe at all do you?" Naruto grumbled, dropping his head into his hands in mortification. "Just tell me what you're planning already. I've done all the mental preparation I can."

"When I was a child, all I could think about was following the rules no matter what," Kakashi said suddenly in a hushed tone. So soft that Naruto almost missed his words. Pakkun mutely lay a paw on top of Kakashi's hand. "Living like this now…is not like me at all, but I still feel a little relieved."

"Change is good though," Naruto said with a spreading smile. Laughing, he went on, "After all, I really can't imagine a Kakashi-sensei that's such a stickler for rules!"

Kakashi was silent for a moment, before laughing aloud with renewed vigor. Patting the top of Pakkun's head affectionately, he declared, "Well then. My spirit's renewed! Now to find out what Sasuke's up to!"

It took a moment for Naruto to fully process what Kakashi was suggesting, but once it went through his brain, he nearly felt his jaw drop open. When Kakashi began to cheerfully give out instructions to the small dog before him, Naruto felt a sly smirk cross his lips. He rather liked this version of Kakashi. "Spying on Sasuke and Sakura-chan? Kakashi-sensei, I think I like you this way."

"Don't call it 'spying,'" Kakashi said firmly, rising to his feet as Pakkun hopped onto the windowsill. "Call it 'information gathering.'"

"Or 'research,' as Ero-Sennin likes to call his blatant voyeurism," Naruto commented with a roll of his eyes. With a glimmer of excitement shining in his blue eyes, he pumped a fist in the air. "Yosh! Let's go then!"

"As usual, you're such an energetic student," Kakashi commented cheerfully, as he strolled leisurely towards the window. Secretly, he was rather glad Naruto was there to accompany him. It _was_ the first time he was doing something so deliberately immature and intrusive. It pays to have someone with experience to guide him? Or something like that.

Just before Kakashi took hold of the windowsill, Naruto grabbed hold of his shoulder and pulled him back with a rather evil grin. "Just a second, Kakashi-sensei. You can't just go out like that. You'll be discovered, right? How about a disguise?"

Kakashi, slightly perturbed, exchanged glances with Pakkun before asking reluctantly, "What exactly do you have in mind?"

With a wink, Naruto stuck his hands together and transformed into his feminine form, which had become rather infamous by now. Kakashi immediately shook his head. "No," he declared flatly. "You do know by now that everyone recognizes you like that, right?"

"It's not me that has to disguise himself," Naruto replied wickedly, leaning closer to the younger teen. "Kakashi-sensei…"

Pakkun slapped a paw over his eyes.

"Frankly, I can't use any kind of jutsu in this state," Kakashi admitted. "I'm not allowed to risk disturbing my chakra flow."

Naruto shrugged it off immediately and waved his hand as if it were a small matter. "We can always do it the old fashion way."

"I'm not dressing in drag," Kakashi almost pouted.

The blond laughed out loud. "Let's just try it for fun! Besides, you might make a cute little girl!"

Even Pakkun let out a chuckle at that.

"I don't think this is funny," Kakashi grumbled as Naruto flattened his spiky hair. Uncooperatively, he shook his head out of the blond's grasp. "I think just a cloak will be enough."

"Aww, that's no fun at all," Naruto complained, but complied, releasing his hold on the smaller teen's head. An idea coming into his head, he commented slyly with a smirk, "You'd do it if Sasuke asked you to."

"…no way," Kakashi scoffed. He could hardly believe he was actually having this discussion. Any chance of retaining his adult mentality must have completely slipped away. Under his breath, he mumbled, "I'd rather see Sasuke do it."

Naruto snickered at that comment but went to retrieve a cloak for Kakashi anyway. No wonder Kakashi always used to tease them when they were young. It was so much _fun_ teasing kids. Naruto vaguely thought to himself that he could get used to Kakashi being a child. Definitely. It was just too much fun. Which randomly gave him an idea.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself," Pakkun commented to his master as Kakashi absent-mindedly scratched behind the dog's ear.

"If you can call it that," Kakashi sighed in response. Turning to glance over his shoulder, Kakashi called, "Naruto! Did you get the cl—…"

Sasuke was standing behind him, hands clasped behind his back and…blushing in a very Hinata-esque fashion. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"K-Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke began quietly, eyes trailing the ground nervously. "Don't go."

Kakashi sighed yet again and turned to stare stonily at the teen. "Nice try, Naruto," he said loudly, making the blushing Sasuke twitch. "Sasuke hasn't called me 'sensei' since the first day we met."

"Che."

In an instant, Naruto transformed back and tossed Kakashi the cloak with a grin. Excitedly, he asked, "But you know, I stunned you for a second, didn't I? Ah, I knew it. I'm good."

"I hate to interrupt, but I can see Sasuke from here," Pakkun called from where he was perched on the windowsill. "He's with Sakura."

That made Kakashi instantly dash for the window with Naruto strolling after him with a little less urgency and a mildly amused expression. Perched over the edge of the sill, Kakashi squinted slightly to observe the pair as they made their way down the village streets. They were actually quite a distance away, so Kakashi figured he would have to leave immediately if he were to catch up with them. Tossing the cloak over his shoulders sloppily, Kakashi secured the hood and leaped nimbly onto the windowsill. "Let's go, Pakkun."

"I guess this means I have to lock the door," Naruto sighed while tossing his arms up. As Kakashi slipped out the window, the blond retreated to the front door to place the lock properly in. Smirking to himself, he muttered in amusement, "So Kakashi-sensei _does_ let his guard down sometimes. I wonder if Sasuke's aware of that."

Once the door was safely locked and the windows were all tightly shut, Naruto ducked out of the last open window and perched himself on the roof. He had locked up in a hurry, but Kakashi was already a good distance away from him. Naruto almost laughed. He would definitely have to tease them about this scenario later. It was just too cute for an adult like Kakashi worry about Sasuke on a date. Although, Naruto reminded himself, he himself had not completely grown out of that habit. Shrugging to himself, he smoothly leaped to the next roof, intent on catching up with Kakashi. This time, he would just be there to observe.

---

From the moment they first ran into each other in Tsunade's office, Sasuke dreaded this. Sasuke was well aware of Sakura's increasingly impressive medical jutsu skills. He was also well aware of the fact that he was indeed housing someone with a rare and distinct medical problem. It hardly took a genius, although a genius Sasuke was, to figure out what Tsunade was going to request when she asked to speak with the two of them privately. Sasuke had simply failed to realize he was very agitated over the situation. Or rather, the reason why.

For a good part of their stay together, Sasuke had thought Kakashi was a burden or that he was annoying, clingy, and other such things. Despite that, he had never thought of parting with his child-sized former teacher either. In fact, he had not even dreamed of the possibility of pushing the task off to someone else. He had reassured himself many times it was simply because he hated giving up on something he started. He did, after all, consider this a mission just like any other. And with that, he would rank it an A in difficulty. Maybe even S.

At times he felt guilty for thinking of looking after Kakashi as a mission. Particularly when the presently younger teen acted unbearably sweet and thoughtful. Sasuke was almost disturbed at times when he remembered just exactly whom that façade of an adorable teen was. Despite all that, he still had not thought of passing him along to someone else. Even though sometimes, Kakashi _did_ act like a manipulative little devil.

"Why don't we get some tea?" Sakura suggested, tapping the side of her face thoughtfully. "It's been a while since I've been home. I really miss the village's atmosphere."

Sasuke managed a tiny quirk of the lips that had taken Sakura years of experience to recognize as a smile. The girl simply smiled casually back and returned her gaze in search of her favorite tea spot. Years ago, she would have had her heart leaping out of her chest at the mere thought of a date with Sasuke. But she was older and more mature now, and she knew well enough Sasuke thought of her only as a comrade. Her feelings for him would never change, but she had converted them completely into friendship and camaraderie for now. A comrade should never betray another's trust, after all.

"Since I asked you here, I'll treat," Sasuke stated calmly as he followed after the girl. The thought of their outing being a date never even crossed his mind. In fact, being on a date with anyone in general never crossed his mind. In this case, Sakura was his friend and she had been out of the country for a long time. He may as well welcome her back accordingly. Plus, he was a gentleman—at least that was what he was told. He vaguely figured that meant he had to be nice to girls, a task that he had struggled with for many years.

"Good," Sakura laughed, "I expected no less."

Sasuke had to admit, he liked this carefree Sakura much more than the Sakura that was constantly pining for him and acting phony to catch his attention. In other words, he enjoyed being just friends with her rather than any other way. It had taken long enough to get their relationship this way, but Sasuke liked it. In truth, he had secretly been a little jealous of the friendship Sakura and Naruto shared. His relationship with both of them was completely different. When he thought about it more, his relationship with Kakashi was more like that of Sakura and Naruto's. Suddenly thinking of Kakashi made Sasuke flush for some unfathomable reason, and he ducked his head and grit his teeth to hide it from Sakura. If anyone, he blamed Kakashi for this.

"Something wrong, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked with a glance over her shoulder as she ducked into the small café.

"N-Nothing," Sasuke grumbled a bit gruffly, still keeping his head low until his blush disappeared. It was annoying that Kakashi could still embarrass him even when he wasn't around, Sasuke thought miserably to himself. Yet another reason why he despised Kakashi.

"It's actually rather crowded in here," Sakura commented. "Let's sit at a table outside. We wouldn't want other people to hear about Tsunade-shishou's request."

Nodding in agreement, Sasuke slipped back out after Sakura and slid onto the bench at the nearest table. He was still so busy being sullen over Kakashi being annoying even from a distance that he almost missed a familiar tingling sensation on the back of his neck. He almost completely failed to notice it until Sakura spoke up calmly, "I believe we're being watched. They're reasonably far away though. Across the street."

Snapping out of his daze, Sasuke snorted. Honestly, he had been expecting something like this. "It's probably just Naruto. Leave the idiot alone."

"Hmm," Sakura buzzed musingly as the waitress brought them two steaming mugs of tea and a teapot. "If it's just Naruto, they why don't we invite him over. He already knows about Kakashi-sensei, right? It shouldn't be a problem."

For a moment, Sasuke considered it. It was vaguely entertaining to think that Sakura would be the one to suggest such a thing. A few years ago, the girl probably would not have even dreamed of suggesting such a thing. Despite Sakura's invitation, Sasuke smirked wickedly. "Let him suffer a bit. It's amusing to see him squirm."

"Still haven't changed," Sakura commented with an amused smile. "Sasuke-kun, I see you get along with Naruto as well as ever."

Sakura had gotten so good with the way she spoke, Sasuke was having difficulty determining whether or not she was being sarcastic. Shaking his head, Sasuke reached for his tea and pushed the matter aside. Naruto was not on today's tea topics. That could be saved for next time. Or something like that.

"Well then," Sakura began, placing her teacup down after taking a sip. "We may as well get down to business. I still have a report to fill out."

Pushing everything else into the back of his head, Sasuke closed his eyes. "Right. Sorry about that."

---

"Why do I keep getting the feeling they've already noticed us?" Naruto asked gloomily, as he slumped over in his chair to catch his breath. He had underestimated Kakashi's urgency and ended up running quite a bit at top speed to catch up with the other teen. They were presently sitting in a restaurant across the street and two over from the one Sasuke and Sakura were at.

"Because they have," Kakashi replied simply as Pakkun, who sat comfortably on Kakashi's lap, relayed to him what the two were saying. Cheerfully, he went on, "But since they think it's just you, they're not taking any action. At least, that's what Sasuke proposed. He's so cute."

Naruto made a face at the last comment. It was so weird hearing something like that come from Kakashi's mouth. Especially when he was such a small size. Then again, everything about what had been happening lately was weird in itself. Sitting in a restaurant, not eating anything, having people stare at him for being with a cloaked figure in the middle of summer, and listening to Kakashi gush over Sasuke's cuteness was so not helping. Just when he was sure the situation could not get hopelessly, possibly worse, he was promptly proved wrong.

"Naruto?"

The blond winced at the familiar voice as he slowly turned in the direction of the call. Shikamaru and Neji stood before him with similar quizzical expressions on their faces. He then realized what the situation looked like. He was with a suspicious looking figure in an odd place. Wait. Wasn't this that restaurant started by that one pirate who was rumored to be a transvestite or something?

Naruto's jaw dropped open on its own.

"It's not what it looks like!"

"Its not what _what_ looks like?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. "We're here to meet someone about a mission, but what are you doing here?" Noting Kakashi, who really did look rather suspicious, he added, "And with, uh, interesting company?"

"Nothing!" Naruto instantly protested, unaware of the fact that denial simply made him seem more suspicious to the pair.

Kakashi said nothing, as if oblivious to the new arrivals' presences. In fact, he was so concentrated that it seemed likely that was the case.

"W-Why exactly are you guys meeting someone _here_ for a mission anyway?" Naruto asked in attempt to change the subject as the two pulled out chairs at the table and seated themselves temporarily.

Neji shot the blond an odd look. "Why not? Shikamaru's uncle runs this place."

Oh, that's right. The pirate's restaurant was next door. Oops.

"I can't hear if you keep talking," Kakashi snapped a bit irritably from where he sat. It was the first thing he had said since Shikamaru and Neji had arrived. The two were slightly taken aback by how familiar the voice sounded, and how they were unable to identify it.

The remaining three at the table then simultaneously turned in the direction of the fourth party's gaze.

"I guess it's a good thing Lee went to run errands today then," Neji sighed.

"Because the girl he likes is on a date with the guy she used to like?" Shikamaru asked dully, making the longhaired jounin twitch visibly.

Frowning, Neji shot the younger teen a glare. "Shikamaru, the way you word things is _so_…"

"Sexy."

Neji sputtered, flailed, and flushed all at the same time, making Naruto edge away from him slightly and others at the restaurant stare. Shikamaru could only sigh and turn slightly towards the new arrival. "Ino, I told you not to tease him."

The girl, who really was running an errand for her parents, simply shrugged. "Oh, you know Neji-san knows it's true. He likes it. Otherwise he wouldn't be with you."

"Define '_with_,'" Neji demanded with a dark glare, face still considerably red. Shikamaru was hardly helping by shrugging with a slight smirk on his face.

Naruto's jaw opened and closed several times as his gaze periodically trailed over towards the still very focused Kakashi. Before he could ask the others keep their voices down a little, Kakashi rose up from his seat suddenly and pulled away from the table without a word. Naruto blinked. He had been so distracted by the others, he had forgotten to listen in with Kakashi on Sasuke and Sakura's conversation. "Ka—uh, I mean…"

"I'm going back," Kakashi said quietly, walking swiftly away from the table.

Naruto was worried. Kakashi sounded serious there. Could that have meant the conversation had been bad? "Ka—I mean, you! _Hey_!"

Ignoring Naruto, Kakashi continued his dash back to Sasuke's house. He had already heard more than he needed to hear.

---

"It was Tsunade-shishou who proposed the idea, but what do you think?" Sakura asked frankly as she poured them both some more tea. "She did say it was your decision after all, despite how she sounded. I'm willing to go with whatever you decide on."

"Kakashi can be…a pain," Sasuke started slowly, eyes concentrated on his teacup. "He causes trouble and makes fun of me all the time."

"But?" the girl asked wisely, a tiny smile crossing her lips.

"But," Sasuke admitted in a low murmur, "he takes care of things, and I know I can trust him. He came to me first, and I just can't let him down."

"You do know why he came to you first, right?" Sakura asked, smiling firmly now as she came to understand the situation more. "Kakashi-sensei trusts you and thinks your important enough to see his weakness. Don't you think you can say that he really likes you?"

Sasuke was silent for a moment before closing his eyes in slight embarrassment. In an almost inaudible tone, he muttered, "I never doubted that."

Sakura laughed. "Well then, Sasuke-kun. The reason you asked me here today is because you want to ask…?"

Taking a deep breath, Sasuke kept his eyes closed and raised his voice a bit, although still muttering, "Please let Kakashi continue to stay with me."

"You don't have to ask twice to know what my answer will be," Sakura replied with a smile. "Seeing you happy is what's most important to me. Tsunade-shishou probably won't be completely pleased, but I'll definitely follow your decision."

At that, Sasuke could not help but offer the girl a soft smile. "Thanks, Sakura."

As Sakura laughed yet again, Sasuke blinked when a flash of a cloak crossed the corner of his eye. He turned his head, but saw nothing. Frowning slightly, he returned his attention back to his tea company. He could have sworn he had just seen Kakashi going down the street in the direction of his house, but… He shook his head. He probably just imagined it.

"By the way, Sasuke-kun," Sakura piped up suddenly as if the thought had just occurred to her. "If Naruto's over there spy on us, who's keeping Kakashi-sensei company? Didn't you ask Naruto to do that?"

Jumping up, Sasuke let a curse escape his lips, which Sakura politely ignored. He had completely forgotten about that. Paying the waitress for their tea, Sasuke apologized to the girl in a rush, "Sorry, Sakura. I'd better get back."

"Don't worry about it," the girl replied with a wave of her hand. Gesturing at the restaurant Naruto and the others were still hiding out at, she commented, "There's plenty of company across the street. I won't be lonely."

"Thanks," Sasuke breathed before dashing for his house, disappearing into the crowd.

Alone at the table, Sakura closed her eyes and continued to smile to herself. Letting out a content sigh, she said quietly to the empty chair across the table. "You already like him too. Don't you see that, Sasuke-kun?"

---

Sasuke was slightly out of breath when he reached his front door. He paused for a moment to catch his breath before making a move to open the door. It was rather peculiar, but there was no light streaming from the crack at the bottom of the door. Sasuke had to frown slightly at this observation. Either Kakashi was not home, or something had happened. Perturbed by both options, Sasuke pushed the door open and reached for the lights. Before he could reach any source of illumination, however, he was completely stunned by the vision before him.

"Welcome home, Sasuke," greeted a tall figure. Once the figure stepped closer, Sasuke felt his body freeze in shock. Kakashi had definitely grown, and the new development was making Sasuke slightly wobbly despite his rigid formation.

"I finally grew again," Kakashi said with an eerie smile as he drew closer still to Sasuke. Once they were only inches apart, Kakashi hovered over Sasuke and muttered in a serious voice, "Sasuke, I'm finally eighteen."

The dark haired teen was slightly confused by the now taller Kakashi's words. Slowly, he tilted his head upwards to gaze questionably and a bit irritably at Kakashi—another fine mistake on his part. Sasuke hardly had time to blink again when Kakashi grinned at his opportunity and swooped over for a sweeping kiss.

"K-Kakashi!" Sasuke exclaimed in a pant, pushing the taller teen away in a flush. "What the _hell_ are you doing?"

"I'm finally the same age as you," Kakashi muttered seriously, bringing his arms to pull Sasuke into a tight embrace. "Isn't it ok now? I really want to stay with you too. You already got Sakura's permission, didn't you?"

Flushing wildly now, Sasuke pushed at the tall teen vainly. "So that _was_ you! You bas—!"

Silencing him with a kiss, Kakashi would not release Sasuke's lips until the dark haired teen loosened and slumped slightly in his arms in humiliation. Chuckling, he murmured, "Sasuke, you're so cute."

"Quit molesting me, you pervert," Sasuke growled in a low tone. "And turn some lights on!"

"No," Kakashi replied with a light tone of cheer in his voice, ignoring the way Sasuke glared at him. "I won't stop this time. I can finally say it now."

Sasuke's glare intensified. Teeth gritted, he asked, "What?"

"That I like you," Kakashi replied with a playful smile, but in a tone that Sasuke found unmistakably serious. Slowly, his embrace around Sasuke's waist tightened and his head lowered for another kiss. "I've tried so hard to get to this age for you, Sasuke. Don't make me let it go to waste."

Even as Kakashi's hands wandered to places they really should not be, Sasuke found himself unable to fight back. He could only blush furiously as Kakashi's hands wandered up his shirt while his lips were attached to Sasuke's neck. He was unable to explain the reasons for his behavior. It was too draining. The way Kakashi was touching him was too distracting, and even though his mind was in a flurry, his body seemed to be craving every continuous touch.

He was hardly out of his daze when he felt Kakashi sweep him lightly off his feet. Sasuke was sure his brain must have shut down already, because if it were still active, it surely would have protested to the way Kakashi had sprawled him onto of the bed. Before his hands wandered again, however, Kakashi paused, looking uncertain. Sasuke vaguely noted that Kakashi, who he had always named a pervert, suddenly looked very nervous. He almost laughed, but kept it to a soft grin. Kakashi really was cute after all.

"I thought," Sasuke muttered slowly, face turning a brilliant shade of scarlet, "you said you won't stop this time?"

"It's your fault for tempting me," Kakashi groaned as he surrendered his conscience and leaned forward again while removing his shirt. Heart skipping a beat awkwardly as he observed the dark haired teen's flushed and willing expression, Kakashi pressed close again, where he would not rise again that night. "Sasuke…"

Sasuke was sure he had seen stars somewhere, but the curtains had been tightly drawn over the windows. His body was still aching even though he had already slept several hours since Kakashi tiredly collapsed on the bed beside him. On the inside, he frankly felt very strange and somewhat confused. His brain seemed to still be on leave, as his rationale had yet to return to him. What was he supposed to feel at a time like this? He still had not figured it out completely yet, but he could feel his heart pounding loudly as Kakashi pulled him close in his sleep.

Maybe, just maybe, he was starting to understand a little what Kakashi was feeling.

Although his eyes were closed, Sasuke was sure Kakashi's eyes had suddenly opened. He continued to feign sleep as Kakashi slowly slid away from him to sit on the edge of the bed. The silver haired teen sighed and ran his hand roughly through his hair once before quietly rising to retrieve his clothes. He apparently had his mind completely occupied with thoughts since he had failed to notice Sasuke was awake.

Once Kakashi had slipped out the window with a lingering glance at him, Sasuke opened his eyes and sat up slowly. Something about Kakashi's expression had bothered him and he fully intended on finding out what he was up to. Wincing as he got onto his feet, Sasuke dressed himself with as much haste as his aching body could manage and climbed out the window after Kakashi.

When Kakashi had finally slowed to a stop, Sasuke was surprised to find himself hiding outside of Tsunade's window, the single lighted window in the village at this time of night, while Kakashi knocked on the door inside. Sasuke felt his brow furrow as he wondered why Kakashi would visit Tsunade in the dead of the night. Particularly after what had just happened between them. Flushing at the memory, Sasuke shook it out of his head and returned his attention to straining his ears to hear what was being said inside.

"Tsunade-sama," Kakashi stated firmly the moment Shizune let him into the room. Icy seriousness in his voice, he stated with resolution even as Tsunade glared rather coldly at him, "I have a request. Please consider it."

Tsuzuku.

--- --- ---

**A/N:** Another long chapter to apologize for slowness. Next to getting sick, I've really been caught up in a whirlwind of just horrible crap in general, so you'll have to forgive me this time. D: Other than that! **Re-Rejuvenated** is reaching an end soon! It's already the second to last chapter! Waah… I can't really believe it myself. How will things turn out for Kakashi and Sasuke? I guess we'll have to find out :D (Doesn't it worry you that I, the author, am saying things like that too? XD) Oh and a little ShikaNeji, heh. I do so love them too. (Author's guilty plug—many apologies.)

**Next Stage Preview:**

"Please let me stay like this."

"There _is_ a reason I tried to keep you away from Sasuke."

"Worst case scenario: you will die. Are you willing to risk that?"

"I don't want an idiot who would throw his life away."

"I knew you were an idiot after all."

"This is the end, isn't it?"

---

Yes. 8D Miscellaneous quotes. Are they in order? Haha, no clue! (Just kidding. Mostly. Truth be told, I haven't started writing the next chapter yet. It's just in my head. D: But I'll be writing it as soon as I finish these notes.) Well, in the meantime, please carefully consider who said each of these lines. It's not very difficult to tell, but a cookie to a person who gets them all correct. ♥

Oh. One more stupid little thing:

**OMAKE: **

**Naruto:** Listening to Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke act all love-love is so embarrassing.

**Pakkun: **You're telling me. I had to sit there and tell Kakashi everything those two were saying.

**Naruto: **...are you sure you told Kakashi-sensei correctly?

**Pakkun:** Then it was wrong to tell him that Sasuke wanted to do H-things with him?

**Naruto:** ...

Thank you for your support so far! Please continue to support me with your reviews. They really whip me into working faster. 8D Thanks again for reading.


	4. Final Stage

**Disclaimer:** I woefully disclaim.

**Pairing:** Kakashi x Sasuke

**Note:** This is _not_ an angst fic! Seriously. (It's more of a stupid!fic :O)

**Re-Rejuvenated**

_By: yukuro_

**Final Stage: **Adult

"I have a request. Please consider it."

Tsunade carefully set away the document she was previously signing and folded her hands deliberately slowly. When she finally raised her eyes to scrutinize the teen before her, her eyes were sharp and serious. She had somewhat expected something like this, so she supposed she was prepared enough to listen. "What is it, Kakashi?"

Bowing to a full ninety-degree angle, Kakashi declared firmly, "Please let me stay like this. This size, this age—please. I'll do whatever it takes."

"Knowing you, you're not simply saying this based on a selfish whim," Tsunade commented a bit darkly. "Do you know what you're asking? The way you are now you can't use any kind of jutsu and your cells are unstable. Is that how you want to live?"

"I don't care," Kakashi replied firmly, slowly returning to his full stature at Shizune's whispered request. "When I'm like this, Sasuke accepts me. There's nothing else I want."

Sighing lightly, as if disappointed, Tsunade returned her attention to her paperwork while Kakashi and Shizune remained motionless and silent. The blond woman closed her eyes as she sifted through the papers. In an offhanded manner, she mused, "A mistake on my part. You really are asking this on selfish whim. There _is_ a reason I tried to keep you away from Sasuke."

"Please," Kakashi reasserted more firmly, choosing to ignore the last statement. "Let me remain this way if it's possible. I'm willing to accept any punishment you see fit."

"Use your head for moment, Kakashi," Tsunade snapped darkly, eyes sharp and cold. "You're dealing with the natural cycle of time here. Even if your body is like this now, to maintain it at it's current form would be going against the natural flow of time. If everyone had an opportunity like what you are requesting, this world would have abundant youth and no death. Idealistic, isn't it? You and I both know something like that is impossible."

The room fell into momentary silence, but both Kakashi and Tsunade's gazes remained firm and unwavering. Only Shizune shifted her gaze between the two, wondering what would become of the situation. Normally, she would not have wasted a second to support Tsunade's decision. This time, however, Kakashi emitted such an aura of determination that Shizune was left slightly speechless. She did, however, know how the situation would end. It was always the same.

"Understand something," Tsunade finally said with a slight sigh. "This is for your own sake. Fighting against the re-rejuvenation process is infinitely difficult and can even be deadly. You'll always lack energy—almost to the point of losing your vitality; simply breathing will become difficult. The cells can deteriorate or die all at once. Worst-case scenario: you will die. Are you willing to risk that?"

Kakashi was silent for a moment, but the determination in his eyes never even flickered. Bowing again to a ninety-degree angle, he closed his eyes and whispered, "Please. To me, Sasuke is that important."

Over Tsunade's shoulder, she heard a faint thump outside her window. The little spy outside had been momentarily stunned and dropped the shield protecting him from having his presence discovered. Returning her gaze to Kakashi, who still remained bowed, Tsunade sighed once more. At the present state, Kakashi was still too weak to even realize the extra presence. The risk was really too much.

"The way you are now," Tsunade began, very frankly, "you're completely useless to the village as a ninja. The life you will carry—if you'll be able to retain it at all—really will be full of agony. Are you still willing?"

Rising to stand straight again, Kakashi directed his gaze directly at the woman and smiled lightly. Slightly bitterly, he stated, "I've already experienced worse agony than anything physical can do to me."

"You're not going to change your mind about this, are you?" Tsunade questioned in an exasperated tone. When Kakashi simply smiled silently in reply, she sighed and lifted a hand to her forehead. "Fine. I'll tell you."

"T-Tsunade-sama!" Shizune protested immediately, stepping forward as Kakashi offered another bow of gratitude. This was not what she had expected. To willing throw away the life of a villager was unheard of coming from Tsunade. Although Shizune had no doubts about Kakashi's stubborn will and determination, it was still too much of a risk. Tsunade had not clearly stated it, but in this case, the worst-case scenario was more than simply likely to occur. It would definitely come and without much of a wait.

If Kakashi were to seriously attempt to resist the re-rejuvenation of his cells, he would have no more than a month to live.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune repeated in a panic, storming over firmly to the woman's desk. "You know better than anyone what will happen if he does something like this! Are you really willing to through a villager's life away?"

"Shizune," Tsunade called quietly, eyes unwavering from where they held Kakashi's gaze. When the dark haired woman tensed at the sound of her name, Tsunade commanded sharply, "You will not have a say in this matter."

"_Tsunade-sama_!"

Tsunade proceeded to ignore the despaired other woman, focusing her gaze a bit more grimly on Kakashi as he slowly stood up straight again. Once Kakashi was upright and facing her properly, she folded her hands before her and let her green eyes narrow slightly. "Hormones and force of will."

Kakashi's ears prickled slightly, unsure if he had properly heard from across the room with the intentional speed Tsunade had snapped the words out. He pressed his lips in a thin line as Shizune dropped her head into her palms in frustration. Patiently, he waited for an explanation.

"I've restricted you from using chakra while this process has been undergoing," Tsunade began. "Exhausting your chakra can be devastating to you in this state. However, if you want to stay this way, the only way is to use your chakra to regulate your hormonal flow. I'm sure you understand what it means to use up all your chakra."

"That simple is it?" Kakashi almost laughed, closing his eyes and ducking his head slightly. "I never would have dreamed it. Well, then Tsunade-sama, I owe you—"

"If you even _think_ of doing something stupid like that, I'll kill you before you can kill yourself!"

At the snarling remark and the crash of glass, Kakashi's eyelids flew open and his head shot up. Sasuke had just smashed his way into the room through Tsunade's window and was glaring daggers at him from across the room. Completely surprised, Kakashi felt his jaw dislocate slightly. "Sasuke…"

"The fact that you hadn't noticed he was there the entire time really says something, Kakashi," Tsunade called with a shrug from her desk. As she leaned back on her chair and crossed her legs, she sighed, "Ah, but it sure did take you a long time to burst in."

"So that's what you were waiting for," Kakashi commented dryly with a smile and a shake of his head. "Even stalling Shizune…"

Still not budging from her desk, Tsunade shrugged again.

"Make no mistake," Kakashi stated firmly, eyes set. "I'm still going through with it."

"Don't be such an incompetent fool!" Sasuke snarled, stomping across the room to snatch hold of Kakashi's collar. "Just what do you hope to gain, tossing your life away?"

"I thought that part was obvious," Kakashi replied with a smile.

"I don't want an idiot who would throw his life away," Sasuke said darkly, palm shaking slightly. "If you honestly thought I would prefer to keep you this way, you're a bigger idiot than I thought."

"Ah, that's right," Kakashi went on, gaze directed up at the ceiling. "You don't want me to stay in your house anymore, right?"

"_Kakashi_!"

"Sasuke," Kakashi called calmly, a strangely calm smile on his face despite how Sasuke was clutching his collar. "As an adult, you wouldn't accept me, and as a child it's impossible as well. Maybe it's my foolish youth getting to me, but I definitely want to be with you at any cost. Like this is the only way I can make it happen."

"I never asked you to stay this age," Sasuke said through gritted teeth. "And I never said I would only accept you this way. You've never tried hard enough, so what would you know? You're more of an idiot than I thought. You're just so _stupid_…"

Kakashi softened slightly. "Sasuke…"

"Just go back to being yourself already," the dark haired teen said wearily, angry frown still on his face and grip still shaking. Head drooped low, Sasuke slowly loosened his grip on the other teen's collar. "Just be yourself again. I don't care how old you are as long as you're alive, you asshole."

Kakashi felt words fail him, seeing Sasuke with such a lost expression. He knew he was being selfish, but that was something he had never done before. At this time, a wave of nostalgia hit him and he was somehow reminded of the bitterness he felt as he gazed down at Obito smiling at him from where he was last lie. Finally, he closed his eyes and let that bitter smile return, lifting his arms to embrace the dark haired boy before him. Once again, hi had been completely defeated.

"There _is_ a reason I tried to keep you away from Sasuke," Tsunade spoke up suddenly, making both Sasuke and Kakashi look up at her. Green eyes sharp, she continued, "I've said it, didn't I? Hormones are a primary factor in stabilizing cell growth. Kakashi, don't think I'm a big enough fool not to have realized you had special feelings for the boy. The reason I told you to stay with Sakura was for your own good."

"The thought of Kakashi staying with Sakura makes me worry about Sakura's safely," Sasuke muttered dryly. Expression growing serious again, he demanded, "What's your point? What's the difference between me and Sakura?"

"You may not have noticed," Tsunade began darkly, "but even for his present condition, Kakashi has been growing far too rapidly and with far too much strain to be considered normal."

"And you're saying that's _my_ fault?" Sasuke asked with a narrowed glare.

"Precisely," Tsunade shot back with icily a glare of equal intensity. "Because of you, Kakashi lost complete control of himself. I'm sure you were smart enough to understand by now why you've been getting so many missions lately. If it _wasn't_ your fault, I wouldn't have bothered."

Kakashi could feel Sasuke's fist shaking again where he still had his fingers clutched his collar. All the while, the dark haired teen did not release his glare from the blond woman across the room. Slowly, Kakashi lifted his palm to cover Sasuke's shaking one, and when the other teen finally broke his gaze from Tsunade to look at him, Kakashi smiled reassuringly. "Sasuke, you should know already, that's not your fault. Everything I've done so far has been on my own accord."

"Shut up," Sasuke snapped, pulling his hand away and shaking his head. "You… You're so stupid…"

Closing his eyes briefly, Kakashi sighed. Turning away from the teen, he redirected his gaze at Tsunade, who was still observing them with an impossibly cool air. "All right, I understand. I'll behave and properly grow up, but I'll say it now: I won't leave Sasuke."

Tsunade closed her eyes in response and changed her expression to something of a smirk. "I assumed you'd say that. Fine. Just make sure next time you show up here, I won't have to crane my neck downwards just to see you, gaki."

Saluting a bit mockingly, Kakashi mirrored a smirk before commenting, "I'll look forward to it."

"Oh, and of course," Tsunade called as the teens made their way towards the door. A wicked smile on her face, she stated, "Your share of missions from your absence period will be waiting for you when you return. Look forward to that too, will you?"

At that, Kakashi twitched a bit and frowned a bit visibly before ushering Sasuke out of the room.

Once the door clicked shut, Tsunade felt a pleased grin spread across her face as Shizune slowly made her way back over to her. The dark haired woman sighed and brought a hand up to her forehead. "Tsunade-sama, you knew Sasuke was there the whole time, didn't you?"

"The kid definitely took his time getting in here! Actually, I'm surprised you didn't notice.," Tsunade replied with a knowing smirk, making Shizune blink in confusion. Tossing her hands up in amusement, she stated with a wide grin, "The boy was practically _radiating_ pheromones. It's hard to miss, you know."

Shizune made a face.

"Tsunade-sama, the way you word things is really…"

Tsunade simply smirked in response.

"Well then. Mission accomplished."

* * *

Moonlight was still pouring in from the window when Sasuke and Kakashi returned. The dark haired teen sat, immobile, on his bed, gazing out the window while Kakashi sat across from him on the bed, his own gaze locked on Sasuke's face as if searching for some kind of response. They sat in silence for a long while before Sasuke finally spoke, although not shifting his gaze from where he stared out the window. "Starting tomorrow," he began quietly, "go live with Naruto until you're better." 

"You know I won't agree to that," Kakashi replied with a slight smile.

"Iruka then, I don't care," Sasuke shot back in frustration as he let his head dip a bit lower. "Just get away from here. Don't come close to me."

"It's rare to see you worry about me," the gray haired teen observed with a slightly wider smile. Sliding over, he pulled the other boy into a loose embrace. "Unfortunately, you can't get rid of me that easily. I've already said it, haven't I? I don't plan on leaving you. You won't let me?"

"I want you to survive, you idiot," Sasuke scowled, pushing away from the other teen. "I don't care if you have to leave here as long as you're still around to see another day! Do you have to be so completely incompetent that you can't understand that?"

Stealing a kiss from the angered boy, Kakashi turned his tiny smile into a complete grin. With a teasing laugh, he stated, "Sasuke, you're so cute."

Sasuke shot him a death glare.

"Don't worry, don't worry," Kakashi laughed. "I did promise already that I'll behave and grow up properly. I can't really go back on my word now. In return, you're going to have to stay with me all the while and make sure everything runs smoothly."

"I refuse," Sasuke replied flatly with a frown as Kakashi leaned over to let his lips trace over his exposed neck.

"You're just angry because I did it too roughly the first time, aren't you?" Kakashi teased wickedly, moving his arms like an iron clamp around the boy's waist. "I'll be nicer this time, I promise."

"If you don't get your hands off me, I'll cut them off!" Sasuke snarled, face significantly redder. His anger response only seemed to further amuse Kakashi, however, unfortunately for him. In retaliation, he raised his foot and kicked. "Go sleep on the couch you stupid, horny jounin!"

"How mean, Sasuke-chan!" Kakashi called out in a pseudo-high pitched voice, grinning like a starved fox as he expertly evaded Sasuke's lashes.

Sasuke was unsure which he hated being called more: Sasuke-chan or Sasuke-niichan. Either way, Kakashi most definitely knew how to annoy him beyond all reason. Deep-set scowl on his face, he wiggled away from the other teen and crawled towards the corner of the bed. Shooting a glare over his shoulder, he stated firmly, "Go away. I'm going to bed."

"You'd be lying if you said you really expected me to leave just like that," Kakashi said with a crooked grin as Sasuke roughly tossed aside the sheets and climbed in. After receiving another death glare, Kakashi gave up and plopped down on the bed next to the dark haired boy. This action gained him yet another death glare. "Relax," he said in amusement. "I promise to behave myself, so let me stay here."

"Dishes."

"What?" Kakashi asked with a blink.

"Dishes," Sasuke repeated in a mumble. "For a week. And when you're back to normal, you're paying me back for all the trouble I've been through for you. That includes all those extra missions I had to take because of you. So you had better turn back to normal. Jerk."

Smile crossing his face, Kakashi closed his eyes and laid down to face the ceiling. "If you say so."

The night felt long and cold, and although Sasuke was sure his eyes were closed and his mind was blank the entire time, it felt as if he had not slept a bit. At some point during the night, Kakashi had come close enough to put his arms around him. Sasuke did not bother to resist—Kakashi was already asleep. Feeling the even breathing on his neck, Sasuke let his body relax again, wishing himself some sleep. The next time he felt consciousness return to him, the sun was peeking in from the window and Kakashi was sitting up, gazing down at his hands.

The now twenty-one year old Kakashi turned to grin sheepishly at Sasuke as the dark haired teen slowly sat up. Laughing in a way that seemed completely fake to Sasuke, he commented, "That didn't last very long. I'm an adult already."

Suddenly, memories of the previous night flooded into Sasuke's mind again and seemed unable to dissipate. Reaching over with a sigh, Sasuke pat the man's head lightly. "You're an idiot after all. Don't look so upset. It's better this way. Once you're back to normal, everything will be fine again."

"If you say so," Kakashi said softly with a smile, closing his eyes and allowing Sasuke to pat his head again.

At that moment, Naruto swung down from the roof and landed neatly on the windowsill next to the bed. Seeing their positions, the blond let out a low whistle and grinned a bit wickedly. "As usual, you two are friendly in the morning!"

Sasuke twitched and narrowed his eyes. "Naruto…"

Kakashi on the other hand, grinned cheerfully and laughed aloud, practically radiating hearts and sparkles. "Oho, you noticed? You're sharper than I thought!"

"But, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto began, folding his arms as Sasuke proceeded to kick the gray haired man in the head and off the bed. "Why is it you're like a dog today?"

"Fitting for a man who summons dogs," Sasuke grumbled, tossing his sheets off his body and over Naruto's head. "And Naruto! How many times have I told you to stop coming in from my window, Usuratonkachi? I'm surrounded by idiots, damn it!"

As Sasuke stormed out of the room and into the bathroom, Naruto pulled the sheet off his head and ducked into the room, rubbing the back of his neck. "Hmm," he began thoughtfully, spreading the sheet neatly over Sasuke's bed again. "But I _did_ go to the front door first. I knocked, but once again, no one answered. I figured I'd reach you two fastest this way."

"Oh, don't mind him," Kakashi stated cheerfully with a wave of his hand and a grin plastered on his face. "Sasuke's just sore from last night."

"I HEARD THAT, KAKASHI!"

"Here it comes," Naruto sighed, tossing his hands up. "Lovers' quarrel number thirty-seven."

"I'm surprised you were keeping count," Kakashi replied with an amused smile as Sasuke stormed back in to throw a kunai at his head, which he dodged quite easily.

Naruto shrugged vaguely while cocking his head to the side to avoid Sasuke's weapons. "It's hard not to. You guys do it every morning after I catch you cuddling."

"WE DO _NOT_ CUDDLE!" Sasuke exploded from the doorway, face flushed in embarrassment.

"It's cute when he's in denial, isn't it, Naruto?" Kakashi gushed to the blond boy while calmly dodging some more flying shuriken.

"I don't know about 'cute,' but sure," Naruto replied evenly, catching one of Sasuke's kunai in his hand and spinning it before sticking it into his own pouch. "Anyway, we've got a mission so I guess I'll let Sasuke get ready. Looks like he's going to go on another rampage again anyway."

"Don't worry, he won't break anything in his own house," Kakashi said with a cheerful wave as Naruto trekked towards the window.

"Oh, and Kakashi-sensei," Naruto called over his shoulder with a grin, "congrats on finally returning to official adult status. You're going to treat us to ramen tonight, right?"

"Right after I borrow money from you," Kakashi called back as Naruto slipped out the window with a laugh. Once the blond was gone again, he turned back to grin cheekily at Sasuke. "Isn't it great how he knows about us?"

"What the hell are you babbling about? Idiot!" Sasuke scowled, glowering dangerously at the man. "Stop sleep-talking when you're awake!"

"Hmm," Kakashi began musingly, bringing a hand up to his chin. "You're definitely cute when you're in denial."

"I just might kill you before you're back to normal," Sasuke said through gritted teeth, back to the grinning man. As he reached up to tie his headband on, he felt arms circle his waist tentatively. He paused for a moment, but continued to tie his headband on with closed eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Well," the silver haired man began thoughtfully, tilting his head sideways slightly, "I've discovered this bug bite on my neck from running around last night. You should really close that window."

"What's your point?" Sasuke asked rather irritably.

Grinning widely, Kakashi tightened his hold on the teen's waist and muttered deviously into his ear, "I'll just tell everyone it's a kiss mark from you."

Sasuke felt a vein pop in his forehead. Turning to push the man away with an open palm to his forehead, Sasuke scowled darkly, "Do that and I _will_ kill you."

"Wah, Sasuke-chan's _scary_!"

Heavy knocks on the walls from next door and muffled shouts of complain made Sasuke stop his attempted assault on Kakashi's life. Scowling to himself, he made his way towards the door with Kakashi waving after him. The silver haired man had conveniently forgotten to note to Sasuke that his cheeks were aflame. That and the fact that put on Kakashi's shirt instead of his own and inside out at that.

Oh well, Kakashi thought to himself with an amused grin as Sasuke stormed out the door with a gruff, "Itekimasu." Sasuke was a smart boy. He should realize at some point his shirt was a bit too big for him. Or someone else would point it out to him.

When Sasuke appeared at the bottom of the stairs, Naruto felt his eyebrows shoot upwards. "Uh, Sasuke. Your shirt… It's inside out. And isn't that Kakashi-sensei's shirt?"

Once again, Sasuke felt the urge to destroy the planet. It seemed the headache he had attained from the moment Kakashi first slipped into his house as a child would never fade.

* * *

It had taken another week for Kakashi to turn the familiar age of twenty-six, and another two weeks to squeeze in the last six years. By then, Sasuke had been driven absolutely mad, reminiscent of his early days looking aft Kakashi. He had hoped that as Kakashi grew _older_ he would be a little more _mature_. However, looking back and tacking in consideration what his original personality was, Sasuke realized that had been a frail, frail hope—and quite stupid at that. Kakashi never grew up even if his body did. He never really had a childhood after all. Until now that is. 

"This is the end, isn't it?" Kakashi sighed a bit too dramatically as he leaned against the doorframe.

Sasuke was literally on his toes in anticipation to happily kick the man out of his apartment. Sure, having an extra person around to do chores was convenient, but the dark haired teen was positive that if he had to put up with another twenty-four hour round of Kakashi's incessant teasing, unnecessary touching, and cheeky remarks, he may have been tempted into throwing himself out the window. Trying, and failing, to hide his eagerness, Sasuke nodded vigorously.

"Don't worry. I'll find a way around this," Kakashi said cheerfully, petting his former student's head affectionately.

"Please don't," Sasuke replied instantaneously, eyes going wide in terror.

Kakashi's sole visible eye crinkled rather wickedly (implying he was smirking underneath that stupid mask of his, the teen realized with a sense of impending doom), and Sasuke felt a little light of his hope die somewhere in the pit of his stomach. Unease not leaving from where it had settled in his stomach, Sasuke brought a hand up to his forehead and opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted as his neighbor opened the door and stepped out to take out the trash.

Apparently, Kakashi thought of this as an excellent opportunity to make his presence properly known in the neighborhood. In a flash, he reached forward and yanked Sasuke towards him. The neighbor turned to look in their direction at the sudden movement, just in time to see Kakashi cheerfully kissing Sasuke's lips through his mask. Jaw dropped open, the neighbor skittered back into the apartment, face reddened and trash forgotten.

Once Sasuke recovered from the shock and an angrily embarrassed flush sprayed across his face, he pushed the man back and shot him his best infuriated death glare while doing his best to wish away the heated redness in his face. Damn Kakashi. Frowning visibly while Kakashi continued to look innocently back at him, Sasuke scowled, "You'll pay for that."

"Ooh, punishment," Kakashi whistled, extending a finger to cheerfully prod Sasuke's cheek. Eye crinkled brightly, he muttered suggestively, "I'll look forward to it."

Sasuke wished he had his weapons on him.

"That reminds me," Kakashi said suddenly, standing upright and bringing a hand to his chin and raising his head thoughtfully.

Although slightly afraid to ask, Sasuke did so slowly, "W-What?"

With almost unreasonable cheer resonating in his voice, Kakashi declared, "I've been thinking about moving for the sake of changing my location."

Sasuke's jaw nearly dropped open. Fearfully, he moaned, "_No_…"

In a wicked tone, Kakashi commented, "I believe your neighbor on the other side just happened to move out last week. How perfectly convenient."

Sasuke was sure all color had drained from his face by then. He dropped his head against the wood on his door and cursed his bad luck. Why, oh _why_ did Kakashi insist on torturing him? Right after he finally had the man out of his apartment, something like this had to happen.

"I…I hate you."

Kakashi simply grinned, although not visibly thanks to his mask. Lifting his hand, he spun a ring of keys around his fingers.

"Yorushiku onegai shimasu, new neighbor."

And Sasuke inwardly wept.

Owari.

* * *

**A/N:** I...I apologize for how long this took to get out...and the crappy ending at that. I blame Bleach and D.Gray-man. -swtdrp- This was supposed to be posted on October 13th, my birthday, but I ended up getting kidnapped from my desk for about a week, so here it is now. Excuses aside, this brings an end to my KakaSasu reverse!fic at long last :D I hope you've enjoyed! It's been fun to write. I have some ideas for a little one-shot **sequel/epilogue** thing, but I guess I wait to see if there's anyone actually interested in reading it :3 (If I write it, it won't be posted with this story though.) 

Thanks very much for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading **Re-Rejuvenated**! Drop a line if you can. ♥ (I'll take it as a late, late birthday present. XD)


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